Robert G. Doumar

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Judge Robert G. Doumar (born 1930) is a United States Senior District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He was appointed to the bench in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan. He graduated from the University of Virginia's law school in 1953.

George Doumar, Judge Doumar's father, was from Syria and immigrated to America in 1901. His mother came from Lebanon later in an arranged marriage. Both were Arabic-speaking Christians and both became U.S. citizens. The family-owned eatery, Doumar's, in Norfolk, Virginia still exists there, and features curb service, homemade barbecue, and handmade ice cream cones.^[1]

Judge Doumar ran, unsuccessfully, as a Republican for the Virginia House of Delegates in 1959 and 1961. He also lost a state Senate bid in 1967. He is married to the former Dorothy Mundy, who served as the Rector of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He has two children and six grandchildren.^[1]

As a delegate to three Republican national conventions, Doumar met California Gov. Ronald Reagan, with whom he shared a skepticism about government and an admiration for individual rights. After Reagan won the White House, Senator John Warner (R-Va.), a law school classmate, sponsored Doumar for the bench.

Judge Doumar presided over the case of Yaser Esam Hamdi in the case of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld,and Jeffrey Spruill v.U.S. 243 F. Supp. 2d 527, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25492 (E.D. Va., 2002). Judge Doumar ruled that a U.S. citizen designated as an enemy combatant was entitled to a lawyer, and that the government had to provide evidence justifying his detention. The Fourth Circuit reversed Judge Doumar, but the Supreme Court reversed the Fourth Circuit and upheld Judge Doumar's basic rulings, 8-1, with multiple opinions. 542 U.S. 507 (2004). He also presided over the case against the Government of Sudan arising out of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen.