The U.S. Senate voted 89 to three Wednesday to confirm David John Novak to serve as District Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The seat opened in June of last year, when Judge Henry Hudson moved to semi-retirement.
As a federal prosecutor, Novak led efforts to prosecute Zacarias Moussaoui, who is serving a life sentence in prison for his part in plotting the 9/11 attacks. University of Richmond Law Professor Carl Tobias said Novak’s background will be especially useful in the Eastern District of Virginia, where a number of terrorism and cyber security cases are heard.
“He might well be assigned to some of those and will bring special expertise that some judges may not have,” Tobias said.
Novak is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Richmond and William & Mary where he teaches national security law. He was nominated by President Trump in March.
Novak had been serving as a Magistrate Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Before being selected as a Magistrate Judge in 2012, he served 18 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. He held several other positions within the Department of Justice prior to working in that office, including serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Texas and as a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Division.
