D. Lowell Jensen

Lowell Jensen
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
In office June 27, 1997 – October 31, 2014
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
In office June 25, 1986 – June 27, 1997
Appointed by	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	William H. Orrick Jr.
Succeeded by	Charles Breyer
21st United States Deputy Attorney General
In office 1985–1986
Appointed by	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Carol E. Dinkins
Succeeded by	Arnold Burns
United States Associate Attorney General
In office 1983–1985
Appointed by	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Rudy Giuliani
Succeeded by	Arnold Burns
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division
In office 1981–1983
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Philip Heymann
Succeeded by	Stephen S. Trott
Personal details
Born	Delwen Lowell Jensen (1928-06-03) June 3, 1928 Brigham City, Utah, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	University of California, Berkeley (BA, JD)

Delwen Lowell Jensen (born June 3, 1928) is an American jurist and former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Education and career

Born in Brigham City, Utah, Jensen received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1949 and a Bachelor of Laws from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1952. He served in the United States Army as a Corporal from 1952 to 1954. He was in private practice in Oakland, California, from 1954 to 1955.

Jensen was a deputy district attorney of Alameda County, California, from 1955 to 1966. Jensen received a LEAA grant to develop DALITE (District Attorney's Automated Legal Information System), a case management software program, like PROMIS (Prosecutor's Management Information System), developed by Inslaw. He was an assistant district attorney of Alameda County from 1966 to 1969. He was the District Attorney of Alameda County from 1969 to 1981. As district attorney Jensen oversaw prosecutions involving members of the Black Panthers and also the Patty Hearst prosecution.

He was the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice from 1981 to 1983. He was the United States Associate Attorney General from 1983 to 1985, and the United States Deputy Attorney General from 1985 to 1986. In 1987 he was briefly considered for FBI director, but he withdrew his name from consideration.

Federal judicial service

Jensen was a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Jensen was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on June 2, 1986, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California vacated by Judge William H. Orrick Jr. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 24, 1986, and received his commission on June 25, 1986. He assumed senior status on June 27, 1997. He retired from the court on October 31, 2014.

Sources

• Delwen Lowell Jensen at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Civil Rights Greensboro: D. Lowell Jensen profile Archived 2012-03-26 at the Wayback Machine, uncg.edu; accessed June 8, 2017.
• Appearances on C-SPAN