Judge David Doty dies at 96
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U.S. District Judge David Doty died Saturday, three days shy of his 97th birthday.
In an email to court staff, U.S. District Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz called Doty "a great man and a great judge."
"He will be deeply missed by all who knew him," Schiltz wrote. "When I visited him recently, he made it clear that he was completely at peace with the fact that his long and remarkable life was nearing its end."
Doty served as a captain in the Marine Corps in the 1950s before spending 25 years as a trial lawyer after graduating from the University of Minnesota Law School.
He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the federal bench in 1987 and served for nearly four decades. He presided over a landmark NFL antitrust lawsuit in the early 1990s, which paved the way for unrestricted player movement in professional football. A jury found that the league’s limited free agency system for players violated antitrust law.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced, but the federal court plans to hold a memorial session in Doty’s honor.
Correction (June 29, 2026): A previous version of this story contained an error about Judge Doty’s tenure as a federal judge. The above story has been updated.
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