David A. Faber

David Alan Faber
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
Incumbent
Assumed office December 31, 2008
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
In office 2002–2007
Preceded by	Charles Harold Haden II
Succeeded by	Joseph R. Goodwin
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
In office November 21, 1991 – December 31, 2008
Appointed by	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Seat established by 104 Stat. 5089
Succeeded by	Irene Berger
Personal details
Born	David Alan Faber (1942-10-21) October 21, 1942 Charleston, West Virginia
Education	West Virginia University (AB) Yale Law School (JD) University of Cambridge (PhD) University of Virginia (LLM)

David Alan Faber (born October 21, 1942) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Education and career

Born in Charleston, West Virginia, Faber graduated from Sissonville High School and received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from West Virginia University in 1964 and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1967. He was in private practice in Charleston from 1967 to 1968. He was in the United States Air Force, JAG Corps from 1968 to 1972, and was then in the United States Naval Reserve from 1973 to 1977. He returned to private practice in Charleston from 1972 to 1981, and was in the West Virginia Air National Guard from 1978 to 1992. He was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia from 1981 to 1986, again returning to private practice in Charleston from 1987 to 1991, also serving as a special part-time Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia from 1988 to 1990. Judge Faber earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Cambridge. He earned his LLM from the University of Virginia.

Federal judicial service

On August 1, 1991, Faber was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia created by 104 Stat. 5089. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 21, 1991, and received his commission on November 25, 1991. He served as Chief Judge from 2002 to 2007, assuming senior status on December 31, 2008. Judge Faber sits by designation on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Among Judge Faber's most notable opinions is his separate opinion (concurring in part and concurring in the judgment) in the disparate-impact liability case Hardie v. NCAA, 2017 WL 2766096 (9th Cir. 2017), discussing how classifications based only on race should be scrutinized carefully in the disparate-impact liability context.

Judge Faber's partial concurrence in Hardie may be second only to his published dissenting opinion in Mort Ranta v. Gorman, 721 F.3d 241 (4th Cir. 2013), where Judge Faber - sitting by designation at the Fourth Circuit - disagreed with the majority's conclusion that denial of a proposed Chapter 13 reorganization plan was sufficiently final for purposes of appeal. Judge Faber's disagreement rested on the more numerous and well-reasoned opinions of other federal circuits, which refused to interrupt the bankruptcy reorganization process with piecemeal appeals by stretching the federal judicial doctrine of "flexible finality" too far in bankruptcy cases.

Sources

• David A. Faber at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.