Chief Judge John Jarvey

U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa

John Jarvey is the chief judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. He was nominated to the court in 2007 by President George W. Bush and named chief judge in 2015.

Jarvey received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Akron, Ohio, in 1978. He graduated from Drake Law School in 1981.

From 1981 to 1983, Jarvey served as a law clerk to the Hon. Donald E. O’Brien in the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa. He then worked as a trial attorney in the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1983 to 1987. He focused on prosecutions involving wiretapping as well as doctors and pharmacists engaging in pharmaceutical drug diversion. In addition, Jarvey was a United States magistrate judge from 1987 until 2007.