Albert Lee Stephens, Jr.

Albert Lee Stephens Jr. (born February 19, 1913; died September 6, 2001) was a United States district court judge who was President John F. Kennedy's first appointee to the federal court and who supervised the large number of cases that arose from the 1969 Santa Barbara, Calif., oil spill. Stephens was appointed to the Superior Court in Los Angeles by Democratic Gov. Pat Brown in 1959; two years later Kennedy appointed him to the federal bench. As a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, he served as chief judge from 1970 to 1979. Born in Los Angeles, Stephens was the son of Judge Albert Lee Stephens, Sr. formerly on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and brother of the late California Court of Appeal Associate Justice Clarke E. Stephens. A Hollywood High School graduate, Stephens attended the University of Southern California (USC) and USC Law School before opening his law practice in 1939. He served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1945.

Albert Lee Stephens Jr. died on September 6, 2001.

External links

* [http://articles.latimes.com/2001/sep/19/local/me-47300] orbituary