Dickinson Richards Debevoise (born 1924 in Orange, New Jersey) is a U.S. Senior District Judge on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Debevoise was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on February 23, 1978 and confirmed by the United States Senate on October 31, 1979. Judge Debevoise served on the committee that revised the general (i.e., local) rules of the district court in 1984. He has been on senior status effective May 1, 1994. Judge Debevoise's chambers are located in the Martin Luther King, Jr. U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Newark, New Jersey.
Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Debevoise was in private practice in Newark, New Jersey from 1953 to 1979. He was formerly a partner in the firm now known as Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti LLP. He is a graduate of Williams College (Class of 1946)[1] and Columbia Law School (Class of 1951). He began his legal career as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Phillip Forman.
Judge Debovoise presided over the arraignment of Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski in 1996.[2]
Judge Debevoise served as a Sergeant in the United States Army during World War II, where he participated in D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, and occupation of Berlin.[1] He later went on to serve as a lieutenant during the Korean War. He is married and has four daughters.
After 32 years on the Court, Judge Debevoise has over 60 former law clerks, including Stuart Rabner, current Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, former New Jersey Attorney General, and former counsel to New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and Peter C. Harvey, who was the first African American to serve as New Jersey Attorney General (2003–2006).
An oral history interview of Judge Debevoise was conducted by the Historical Society for the U.S. District of the District of New Jersey on April 22, 2010.[1]