Ronald Earl Longstaff (born 1941) is an inactive Senior

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa (in case citations, S.D. Iowa) has jurisdiction over forty-seven of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is subject to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (except for patent claims a ...

Education and career

Born in Pittsburg,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, Longstaff received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in accounting from

Pittsburg State University Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regents. History ...

in 1962 and a Juris Doctor, with honors, from the

University of Iowa College of Law The University of Iowa College of Law is the law school of the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. It was founded in 1865. Iowa is ranked the 28th-best law school in the United States by the '' U.S. News & World Report'' "Best Law Sch ...

in 1965. In law school, he was a comments editor of the

Iowa Law Review The ''Iowa Law Review'' is a law review published five times annually by the University of Iowa College of Law. It was established in 1915 as the ''Iowa Law Bulletin''.About Us, ''Iowa Law Review'', http://www.uiowa.edu/~ilr/about.htm It is ranked ...

and published three pieces in the journal. Longstaff was a law clerk for Judge Roy L. Stephenson of the

from 1965 to 1967, during which time he worked on

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District ''Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District'', 393 U.S. 503 (1969), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined First Amendment rights of students in U.S. public schools. The ''Tinker'' test, also ...

. He was in private practice in Des Moines,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

from 1967 to 1968. Longstaff then served as the Clerk of Court for the Southern District of Iowa from 1968 to 1976, and also as the commissioner and then the first full-time

United States Magistrate Judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduc ...

for the district from 1968 to 1991.

Federal judicial service

On July 24, 1991, Longstaff was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to a new seat on the

created by 104 Stat. 5089. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on October 31, 1991, and received his commission on November 5, 1991. He served as

Chief Judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...

from 2001 to 2006, assuming

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on November 5, 2006. Longstaff has thus far been the only judge on the Southern District of Iowa to preside over a

multidistrict litigation In United States law, multidistrict litigation (MDL) refers to a special federal legal procedure designed to speed the process of handling complex cases, such as air disaster litigation or complex product liability suits. Description MDL cases ...

, related to

Teflon Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemo ...

products. In September 2016, Longstaff ceased taking cases. His first law clerk, James E. Gritzner, also became a federal judge in the same district.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Longstaff, Ronald Earl 1941 births Living people Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa United States district court judges appointed by George H. W. Bush 20th-century American judges University of Iowa College of Law alumni People from Pittsburg, Kansas United States magistrate judges 21st-century American judges