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Richard G. Kopf

Richard G. Kopf
Richard G. Kopf District Judge.jpg
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska
Assumed office
December 1, 2011
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska
In office
1999–2004
Preceded by William G. Cambridge
Succeeded by Joseph F. Bataillon
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska
In office
May 26, 1992 – December 1, 2011
Appointed by George H. W. Bush
Preceded by Warren K. Urbom
Succeeded by John M. Gerrard
Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska
In office
1987–1992
Personal details
Born 1946 (age 70–71)
Toledo, Ohio, U.S.
Alma mater Kearney State College (B.A.)
University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Law (J.D.)

Richard George Kopf (born 1946 in Toledo, Ohio) is a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska. He served as chief judge of that court from 1999-2004. President George H. W. Bush nominated Kopf to the seat in 1992. From 1987 to 1992, Kopf served as a magistrate judge in the same district. He assumed senior status on December 1, 2011.

Kopf received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Kearney State College (now the University of Nebraska at Kearney) in 1969, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Law in 1972. He was a law clerk for Judge Donald Ross in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit for two years following law school and then entered private practice in Lexington, Nebraska. In 1984, he served as counsel for the State of Nebraska in the impeachment of the Nebraska Attorney General.

Kopf has received considerable press coverage for abortion-related decisions, particularly for his 474-page opinion striking down a ban on late-term abortions in Carhart, et al., v. Ashcroft. His decision included the apology "I apologize for the length of this opinion. I am well aware that appellate judges have plenty to do and that long-winded opinions from district judges are seldom helpful.... Nonetheless, I pity the poor appellate judge who has to slog through this thing. I am truly sorry."

In 2007 Kopf dismissed without prejudice a case over the use of the words "rape" and "sexual assault" in a rape trial in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Tory Bowen had filed a lawsuit against Judge Jeffre Cheuvront for violating her right to free speech in a rape trial; Kopf dismissed the suit because Bowen had not shown enough evidence to demonstrate her lawsuit was not frivolous. Cheuvront had barred the words "rape" and "sexual assault" from the trial, but allowed words such as "sexual intercourse" and "intercourse" to be used instead.


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