Delwen Lowell Jensen (born June 3, 1928) is an American jurist and former

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. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

Education and career

Born in

Brigham City Brigham City is a city in Box Elder County, Utah, Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The population was 19,650 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, up from the 2010 figure of 17,899. It is the county seat of Box Elder County. It l ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, Jensen received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1949 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

UC Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was ...

in 1952. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

as a Corporal from 1952 to 1954. He was in private practice in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, California, from 1954 to 1955. Jensen was a deputy district attorney of

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. A ...

, 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 Inslaw, Inc. is a Washington, D.C.–based information technology company that markets case management software for corporate and government users. Inslaw is known for developing PROMIS, an early case management software system. It is also known ...

. 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 Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954) is an American actress and member of the Hearst family. She is the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She first became known for the events following her 197 ...

prosecution.East Bay Times article on Jensen
/ref> He was the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

from 1981 to 1983. He was the

United States Associate Attorney General The United States associate attorney general is the third-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). The associate attorney general advises and assists the attorney general and the deputy attorney general in poli ...

from 1983 to 1985, and the

United States Deputy Attorney General The United States deputy attorney general is the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice and oversees the day-to-day operation of the department. The deputy attorney general acts as attorney general during the ...

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

. Jensen was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

on June 2, 1986, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

William H. Orrick Jr. William Horsley Orrick Jr. (October 10, 1915 – August 14, 2003) was an American attorney and judge. He served as a United States district judge for United States District Court for the Northern District of California. From 1963 to 1965, he serv ...

He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

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.Profile
uscourts.gov; accessed June 8, 2017.

References

Sources

*
Civil Rights Greensboro: D. Lowell Jensen profile
, uncg.edu; accessed June 8, 2017. * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, D. Lowell 1928 births American prosecutors Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Living people People from Brigham City, Utah UC Berkeley School of Law alumni United States Army soldiers United States assistant attorneys general for the Criminal Division United States associate attorneys general United States deputy attorneys general United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan