David M. Ebel

David Milton Ebel (born June 3, 1940) is a federal appellate judge who has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit since 1988.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Ebel received a B.A. from Northwestern University in 1962 and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Michigan Law Review, in 1965. After law school he clerked for Associate Justice Byron White of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1965 to 1966. He was in private practice in Denver, Colorado from 1966 to 1988. He was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Denver Law School from 1987 to 1989 and a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University Law School from 1992 to 1994.

Ebel was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on December 18, 1987, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacated by William Edward Doyle. Ebel was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 19, 1988, and received his commission on April 20, 1988. He assumed Senior status on January 16, 2006. Neil Gorsuch, confirmed on May 10, 2006, was appointed by President George W. Bush to replace him. Like Ebel, Gorsuch was a law clerk of the late Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. This appointment may be the first yet of successors to the same federal judicial seat having been law clerks to the same Supreme Court Justice.