David S. Tatel

David Stephen Tatel (born March 16, 1942) is an American lawyer who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Tatel received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in 1963.

He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1966 with a Juris Doctor.

After graduating from law school, he served as an instructor at the University of Michigan Law School before joining Sidley Austin in Chicago.

He served as founding director of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Director of the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Director of the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare during the Carter Administration.

Tatel has been blind since 1972 due to retinitis pigmentosa.

His guide dog, Vixen, is a German Shepherd.

In 1979, Tatel joined the law firm Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells), where he founded and headed the firm's education practice until his appointment to the D.C. Circuit.

While on sabbatical from Hogan & Hartson, Tatel spent a year as a lecturer at Stanford Law School.

He also previously served as Acting General Counsel for the Legal Services Corporation.

He chaired the Board of The Spencer Foundation from 1990 to 1997 and the Board of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching from 2005 to 2009.

Tatel and his wife, Edith, have had four children and eight grandchildren.

Tatel was nominated by President Bill Clinton on June 20, 1994, to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated by Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 6, 1994, by a voice vote, and received commission on October 7, 1994.

He announced his intent to assume senior status upon confirmation of a successor on February 12, 2021.

Tatel assumed senior status on May 16, 2022.

He announced his plans to retire from the bench in September 2023 to return to a law firm where he worked before became a federal judge.

He retired from judicial service on January 16, 2024.

In June 2017, Tatel found the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act did not prevent the survivors of a Holocaust victim from suing to recover art stolen by Nazi plunderers, over the partial dissent of Senior Judge A. Raymond Randolph.

In October 2019, Tatel filed the majority opinion in Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP, finding that the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform had the authority to compel Mazars, via subpoena, to produce documents relating to the personal financial information of President Donald Trump, including several years' worth of income tax returns.

That decision was vacated and remanded, 7–2, by the Supreme Court in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts on July 9, 2020.

Tatel serves as co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Science, Technology, and Law.

He is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He serves on the Trustee Board of the Foundation Fighting Blindness.