KYJKnow Your Judge v0.6.2by SwansLake
Judge directoryRichard J. Leon

Senior District judge

Richard J. Leon

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

District of Columbia

Identity verifiedOfficial profile locatedOfficial sources collectedPresentation intelligence
01

Overview

Identity and service

Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge.

Judicial role
Judge
Service status
Senior
Court level
District
Jurisdiction
Federal
02

Background

Biography and career

Born
1949 in South Natick, MA
Gender
Male
Race
White
Political affiliation
Republican (via appointer)

Education

  • College of the Holy CrossA.B., 1971
  • Suffolk UniversityJ.D., 1974
  • Harvard UniversityLL.M., 1981

Professional career

  • Law clerk, Massachusetts Superior Court, 1974-1975
  • Law clerk, Hon. Thomas F. Kelleher, Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1975-1976
  • Attorney, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program, 1976-1977
  • Special assistant U.S. attorney, Civil Division, Southern District of New York, 1977-1978
  • Assistant professor of law, St. John's University School of Law, 1979-1983
  • Senior trial attorney, Criminal Section, Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1983-1987
  • Deputy chief minority counsel, U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, 1987-1988
  • Deputy assistant attorney general, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1988-1989
  • Private practice, Washington, D.C., 1989-2002
  • Commissioner, White House Fellows Commission, 1990-1993
  • Chief minority counsel, October Surprise Task Force, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, 1992-1993
  • Special counsel, Whitewater investigation, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, 1994-present
  • Adjunct professor, Georgetown University Law Center, 1997-present
  • Special counsel, U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Reform Task Force, 1997-present
  • Commissioner, Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control, 2000-2001
  • Adjunct professor, George Washington University Law School, 2004-present

Judicial service

  • Judge, District Court, District of Columbia, 2002-present

Source: CourtListener / Free Law Project public biographical data. Demographic and political labels are incomplete, source-attributed, and are not used to infer judicial behavior. “Via appointer” describes CourtListener’s attribution method, not verified personal party membership.

03

Before you appear

Preparation checklist

  1. 01

    Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed.

  2. 02

    Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance.

  3. 03

    Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding.

Scope note

Statewide and courtwide guidance is labeled by scope and is not evidence of a personal preference. Division, judge-specific, or case-specific orders may control.

04

Presentation rules

What the public sources say

CourtwideExplicit
Civil Trial Or Hearing

Leave required

In federal district-court civil proceedings, testimony is ordinarily taken in open court; remote contemporaneous testimony requires good cause in compelling circumstances and appropriate safeguards.

Page
Current official rules page and linked rules compilation
Section
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a); district civil proceedings only
Last checked
July 26, 2026
Verification
Automated checks passed
Read supporting source excerpt
For good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards, the court may permit testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location.

The requirement is stated in current official court rules and is attached at court scope, not as a personal preference.

CourtwideExplicit
Criminal Proceeding

Restricted

Federal district courts may not permit courtroom photography or broadcasting during criminal judicial proceedings unless a statute or another federal rule provides an exception.

Page
Official U.S. Courts history and current rule text
Section
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53; criminal proceedings
Last checked
July 26, 2026
Verification
Automated checks passed
Read supporting source excerpt
Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom.

The requirement is stated in current official court rules and is attached at court scope, not as a personal preference.

05

Courtroom technology

Published equipment guidance

No technology specification indexed

Technology availability is separate from procedural permission and evidentiary admissibility.

06

Published opinion footprint

Decisions and citations

Opinion data is not yet indexed for this profile

This does not mean the judge has no published opinions or no caseload. KYJ will only show opinion counts after transparent, source-linked CourtListener matching is available.

07

Sources

Public documents behind this profile

08

Change history

How this profile entered KYJ

Current profile indexed

Identity imported from Federal Judicial Center Biographical Directory. 2 presentation-related claims migrated with source provenance.