David Sentelle was born in Canton, North Carolina. His father was a mill worker. Sentelle was raised in Candler, North Carolina. He graduated from Enka High School in 1961, where he was a classmate of Thomas A. Furness III, who is the "Grandfather of Virtual Reality."
Sentelle practiced law as an associate attorney with the firm Uzzell & Dumont in Asheville, North Carolina, from 1968 to 1970.[1] He was an Assistant United States Attorney in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 1970 to 1974.
Sentelle served as a North Carolina District Court Judge in Mecklenburg Country from 1974 to 1977.[2] He stepped down from the bench in 1977 to become a partner with the law firm of Tucker, Hicks, Sentelle, Moon & Hodge in Charlotte until his appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in 1985.[3]
Sentelle is also a founding member and was the longtime president of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of the American Inns of Court, one of D.C.'s most prestigious associations of white-collar prosecutors and defense attorneys. He won the 2008 American Inns of Court professionalism award in recognition of his service to the Inn.
Sentelle was nominated by President Reagan on February 2, 1987, to the seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated by Judge Antonin Scalia, who was elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sentelle was confirmed by the Senate by a 87–0 vote on September 9, 1987. He received his commission on September 11, 1987; and entered into service on October 19, 1987. He served as Chief Judge from 2008 to 2013.[2] He assumed senior status on February 12, 2013.[2][5] During his time on the D.C. Circuit, Sentelle served with five future Supreme Court justices: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. In addition, many of his law clerks went on to clerk for Supreme Court justices, earning Sentelle a reputation as a "feeder judge."
From 1992 to 2006, Sentelle served as the presiding judge of the Division of the D.C. Circuit for the Appointment of Independent Counsel. During his tenure, the division appointed Kenneth Starr to replace Robert B. Fiske who had been appointed by Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the allegations against President Bill Clinton with respect to the Whitewater Affair.
In addition to his work on the D.C. Circuit and the FISCR, Sentelle served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference from 2008 to 2013, and as the chair of that committee from 2010 to 2013.
Several of Sentelle's former law clerks have gone onto become judges themselves. Neil Gorsuch (1991–1992) serves as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Joan Larsen (1993-1994, 6th Cir.), Allison Jones Rushing (2008-2009, 4th Cir.), Beth Robinson (1989-1990, 2nd Cir.), and Andrew Oldham (2005-2006, 5th Cir.) currently serve as Circuit Court Judges. (President Trump considered nominating both Larsen and Rushing for the Supreme Court seat currently occupied by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, while Robinson is the first openly gay judge on the federal appellate bench.) Liam P. Hardy (2010–2011) is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Steven C. Seeger (1997-1998, N.D. Ill.), Richard E. Myers II (1998-1999, E.D.N.C.), and Frank DeArmon Whitney (1988-1989, W.D.N.C.) currently serve as U.S. District Judges. Adam Conrad (2005–2006) serves on the North Carolina Business Court. David E. Jones (1991–1992) formerly served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Other Sentelle clerks have gone on to serve as executive branch officials. Kristen Silverberg (1998–1999) served as the ambassador to the E.U. Maureen Ohlhausen (1994–1995) served as a member and acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission.
Notable cases
While on the D.C. Circuit, Sentelle was part of two three-judge panels that overturned the convictions of Oliver North and John Poindexter. On the North panel, Sentelle and Judge Laurence Silberman voted to overturn North's conviction while Chief Judge Patricia Wald dissented.[7] On the Poindexter panel, Sentelle and Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg voted to overturn the conviction with Judge Abner J. Mikva dissenting.[8]
In Cobell v. Norton, 240 F.3d 1081 (D.C. Cir. 2001), Sentelle (joined by Judges Stephen Williams and Judith Rogers) largely affirmed the District Court's finding that the federal government had mismanaged Indian trust funds. The government ultimately settled the case—one of the largest class actions in history—in 2009.[9]
In 2004, New York Times reporter Judith Miller refused to comply with a grand jury subpoena seeking documents and testimony about her conversations with a confidential source. Because of her noncompliance, the District Court held Miller in civil contempt and she spent 85 days in jail. In In re Grand Jury Subpoena, Judith Miller, 397 F.3d 964 (D.C. Cir. 2005), Sentelle (joined by Judges Karen Henderson and David Tatel) affirmed Miller's conviction, though the three judges disagreed about the existence and scope of a reporter's common-law privilege to resist grand jury subpoenas.[10]
In National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, Sentelle (with Judges Henderson and Thomas Griffith) held that President Obama's extensive use of recess appointments violated the Constitution, clarifying the President's limited Article II authority to fill judicial and executive appointments during inter-session recesses.[11] The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed, though a majority of justices declined to adopt Sentelle's precise constitutional rationale.[12]
Personal
Sentelle served as a delegate to the 1984 Republican National Convention. He previously published several works of crime fiction under the pseudonym Clyde Haywood.
Sentelle is a Freemason. He is a recipient of the Joseph Montfort Medal from the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.[13]
