{{Short description|American judge (1946–2025)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Richard G. Kopf | honorific_suffix = | image = Richard G. Kopf District Judge.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska | term_start = December 1, 2011 | term_end = January 17, 2025 | office1 = Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska | term_start1 = 1999 | term_end1 = 2004 | predecessor1 = William G. Cambridge | successor1 = Joseph Bataillon | office2 = Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska | term_start2 = May 26, 1992 | term_end2 = December 1, 2011 | appointer2 = George H. W. Bush | predecessor2 = Warren Keith Urbom | successor2 = John M. Gerrard | office3 = Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska | term_start3 = 1987 | term_end3 = 1992 | pronunciation = | birth_name = Richard George Kopf | birth_date = {{Birth date|1946|12|01}} | birth_place = Toledo, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|01|17|1946|12|01}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = | education = Kearney State College (BA)<br>University of Nebraska–Lincoln (JD) <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | footnotes = }}
'''Richard George Kopf''' (December 1, 1946 – January 17, 2025) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
==Background== Kopf received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Kearney State College in 1969,<ref name=FJCbio/> where he was a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Phi Kappa Tau Hall of Fame |url=http://www.phikappatau.org/about-pkt/phi-kappa-tau-hall-of-fame.html |publisher=Phi Kappa Tau |accessdate=April 13, 2015 |archive-date=September 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055949/http://www.phikappatau.org/about-pkt/phi-kappa-tau-hall-of-fame.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 1972.<ref name=FJCbio/> He was a law clerk for Judge Donald Roe Ross of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit for two years following law school and then entered private practice in Lexington, Nebraska.<ref name=FJCbio/> In 1984, he served as counsel for the State of Nebraska in the impeachment of the Nebraska Attorney General.<ref name=FJCbio/>
Kopf died on January 17, 2025, at the age of 78.<ref name=FJCbio/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pilger |first=Lori |date=January 18, 2025 |title=Retired Nebraska federal judge Richard Kopf dies at 78 |url=https://omaha.com/news/state-regional/article_c986a127-982d-50ae-800b-4c487b23b070.html |access-date=January 19, 2025 |website=Omaha World-Herald |language=en}}</ref>
==Federal judicial service== Kopf served as a United States magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska from 1987 to 1992.<ref name=FJCbio/>
Kopf was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on April 7, 1992, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska vacated by Judge Warren Keith Urbom. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 21, 1992, and received commission on May 26, 1992. He served as chief judge from 1999 to 2004. He assumed senior status on December 1, 2011.<ref name=FJCbio>{{FJC Bio|nid=1383466|inline=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Resolution: Senior Status of the Honorable Richard G. Kopf, United States District Judge, District of Nebraska |url=http://www.ned.uscourts.gov/internetDocs/judicialArchive/RGK_Resolution-SrStatus.pdf |website=U.S. District Court, District of Nebraska |publisher=Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts |accessdate=April 13, 2015}}</ref>
==Controversial opinions== Kopf received considerable press coverage for abortion-related decisions, particularly for his 474-page opinion striking down a ban on late-term abortions in ''Carhart, et al., v. Ashcroft''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nebraska judge finds partial-birth abortion ban unconstitutional |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4khTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uYIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3894,871564&dq=richard+kopf&hl=en |newspaper=Elizabethton Star |date=September 9, 2004 |accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref> His decision included the apology "I apologize for the length of this opinion. I am well aware that appellate judges have plenty to do and that long-winded opinions from district judges are seldom helpful.... Nonetheless, I pity the poor appellate judge who has to slog through this thing. I am truly sorry."<ref>''[http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/331/805/2421702/ Carhart v. Ashcroft]'', 331 F. Supp. 2d 805, 809-810 (D. Neb. 2004)</ref>
In 2007 Kopf dismissed without prejudice a case over the use of the words "rape" and "sexual assault" in a rape trial in Lancaster County, Nebraska.<ref name=USAToday-2011-05-28/><ref>''[https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1579561/bowen-v-cheuvront/ Bowen v. Cheuvront]'', 516 F. Supp. 2d 1021 (D. Neb. 2007)</ref> Tory Bowen had filed a lawsuit against Judge Jeffre Cheuvront for violating her right to free speech in a rape trial; Kopf dismissed the suit because Bowen had not shown enough evidence to demonstrate her lawsuit was not frivolous. Cheuvront had barred the words "rape" and "sexual assault" from the trial, but allowed words such as "sexual intercourse" and "intercourse" to be used instead.<ref name=USAToday-2011-05-28>{{cite news |title=Judge tosses lawsuit over word 'rape' |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-25-2867930717_x.htm |newspaper=USA Today |date=September 26, 2007 |accessdate=May 28, 2011}}</ref>
==Awards and honors== Kopf served as president and board chair of the historical society for the Eighth Circuit.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Historical Society of the United States Courts in the Eighth Circuit |url=http://www.lb8.uscourts.gov/pubsandservices/histsociety/officers.html |website=U.S. Courts Library: Eighth Circuit |publisher=Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts |accessdate=April 13, 2015}}</ref> He served as administrator of the Robert Van Pelt Inn of Court, a legal professional organization, until 2008;<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kopf |first1=Richard |title=Financial Disclosure Report for Calendar Year 2009 |url=http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Kopf_Richard_G-2009.pdf |publisher=Judicial Watch |accessdate=April 13, 2015 |page=5}}</ref> the organization gave Kopf its Warren Keith Urbom Mentor Award the same year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Warren K. Urbom Mentor Award |url=http://home.innsofcourt.org/for-members/inns/the-robert-van-pelt-american-inn-of-court/warren-k-urbom-mentor-award.aspx |website=The Robert Van Pelt American Inn of Court |publisher=American Inns of Court |accessdate=April 13, 2015}}</ref>
==Personal blog== From 2013 to 2015, Kopf maintained a personal blog entitled ''Hercules and the Umpire: The Role of the Federal Trial Judge''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kopft|first1=Richard|title=Hercules and the Umpire|url=http://herculesandtheumpire.com/|website=Hercules and the Umpire|accessdate=13 April 2015}}</ref>
On August 8, 2013, Kopf published a blog, "Shon Hopwood and Kopf’s terrible sentencing instincts" relaying that he had given Hopwood a 12-year prison term for bank robbery, having then misjudged him as a "punk".<ref>[https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/around_the_blawgosphere_kopf_hopwood_snowden "'My sentencing instincts suck,' blogging judge admits, wishing ex-con-turned-law-student well"] by Sarah Mui, American Bar Association, August 9, 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2022.</ref> Hopwood subsequently became a successful criminal attorney and a Georgetown University Law Center professor.<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-meet-a-convicted-felon-who-became-a-georgetown-law-professor-shon-hopwood-2019-07-21/ "Meet a convicted felon who became a Georgetown law professor"] by Steve Kroft, ''CBS News'', July 21, 2019. Retrieved January 31, 2022.</ref>
Kopf ended the blog after members of his courthouse staff indicated that it was an embarrassment to the court.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://netnebraska.org/article/news/981511/nebraska-federal-judge-ends-controversial-blog-will-remain-bench|title=Nebraska federal judge ends controversial blog; Will remain on bench - netnebraska.org|website=netnebraska.org}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{FJC Bio|nid=1383466}} * Richard Kopf's Blog: {{cite web| title=Hercules and the umpire: The Role of the Federal Trial Judge| author=Kopf, Richard George| url=http://herculesandtheumpire.com/| date=July 28, 2013|accessdate=July 28, 2013| place=Nebraska}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Warren Keith Urbom}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska}}|years=1992–2011}} {{s-aft|after=John M. Gerrard}} {{s-bef|before=William G. Cambridge}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska}}|years=1999–2004}} {{s-aft|after=Joseph Bataillon}} {{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopf, Richard G.}} Category:1946 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska Category:United States district court judges appointed by George H. W. Bush Category:University of Nebraska at Kearney alumni Category:University of Nebraska College of Law alumni Category:United States magistrate judges Category:Lawyers from Toledo, Ohio Category:People from Lexington, Nebraska Category:21st-century American judges