David Brock Hornby

American judge (born 1944)

David Brock Hornby (born April 21, 1944) is an inactive senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maine .

Early life and education

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Hornby was born in 1944 in Brandon , Manitoba , Canada, and was raised there and in London, Ontario. Hornby received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1965. From 1965 to 1966, he was enrolled in the Near Eastern Languages and Literatures department of the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He received a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School _cum laude _ in 1969 and served as the Supreme Court Note and Developments Editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Career

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Following law school, Hornby was a law clerk for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans (1969–70).

Hornby taught law at the University of Virginia School of Law (1970-1974), becoming an Associate Professor and receiving tenure in 1973. He became a naturalized United States citizen in Abingdon Virginia.

Hornby engaged in the private practice of law at Perkins, Thompson, Hinckley & Keddy in Portland , Maine (1974–82; partner from 1975). He held various officer and board positions including that of President (1977–79) at the Portland Society of Art (1975–84), which then operated both the Portland Museum of Art and the Portland School of Art (now Maine College of Art) during a period when the School attained national accreditation and the Museum embarked on its ambitious expansion program engaging Henry M. Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners to design the new Museum building with the support of Charles Shipman Payson. Hornby served as trustee and member of various committees (including the executive committee) of Westbrook College (1979–85, 1986–90) (now part of University of New England). He served on the board of the Chamber of Commerce of the Greater Portland Region (1979–82). He also served on the boards of various other charitable and civic endeavors.

Judicial service

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Hornby in 2018

Hornby was the first full-time United States magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maine (1982-1988).

He was succeeded by Magistrate Judge David M. Cohen.

In 1988, Maine Governor John A. McKernan appointed Hornby an associate justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to fill a seat vacated by Justice David Nichols. Hornby served there until 1990 and was succeeded by Justice Morton A. Brody.

President George H. W. Bush appointed Hornby a United States District Judge in the District of Maine in 1990 to fill a seat made vacant by the appointment of Conrad Cyr to the First Circuit. Hornby was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 27, 1990. He served as chief judge of the court from 1996 to 2003. Hornby assumed senior status on May 1, 2010, and inactive senior status on February 28, 2022. Hornby was succeeded in the position by Nancy Torresen .

Awards for judicial service

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In 2009, Hornby received the 27th Annual Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award. The Devitt Award is the highest honor that can be bestowed on a federal judge.

In 2014, Hornby received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree and the Morton A. Brody Distinguished Judicial Service Award from Colby College, given to a judge "who embodies the qualities of integrity, compassion, humanity, and judicial craftsmanship exhibited by Judge Brody."

In April 2014, the Maine Legislature passed a resolution recognizing Hornby's achievement.

Other activities during judicial service

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Writing and speaking

As a judge, apart from judicial opinions, Hornby has focused his writing on less formal genres.

He is a frequent contributor to the Green Bag, an "entertaining journal of law" dedicated to good legal writing. Hornby's writing has also appeared in publications such as Judicature, The ALI Reporter, the Maine Bar Journal, The Federal Lawyer, The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process, In Camera, FCCA Journal, Judges' Journal, Litigation, and FJC Directions. While the federal judiciary was seeking salary restoration, Hornby also wrote and spoke on that topic.

The Green Bag has published "Beatitudes and Jeremiads" as well as several c

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Judicial Career

Biography