Donald S. Voorhees

Donald S. Voorhees (July 30, 1916 – July 7, 1989) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Education and career

Born in Leavenworth, Kansas, Voorhees received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the University of Kansas in 1938. He received a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1946. He was a United States Naval Reserve Lieutenant from 1942 to 1946. He was in private practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1946 to 1947. He was in private practice in Seattle, Washington from 1947 to 1974.

Federal judicial service

Voorhees was nominated by President Richard Nixon on May 28, 1974, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington vacated by Judge William T. Beeks. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 13, 1974, and received his commission on June 20, 1974. He assumed senior status on November 30, 1986. His service terminated on July 7, 1989, due to his death.

Voorhees also issued a major ruling in a school desegregation case in 1979 when he overturned an anti-busing initiative approved by Washington State voters. That ruling, upheld by the Supreme Court, allowed the Seattle school district to carry out its desegregation plan. His ruling in another case barred county jails from conducting random strip searches of prisoners, without warrant or reason, after several suits filed by women who were strip and cavity searched following traffic violations and noise complaints. In 1978, Voorhees ruled that the Washington State Liquor Control Board return the 645 cases of liquor which had been confiscated from the Tulalip tribe before the shipment could reach the reservation.

Legacy and Death

Voorhees died at the Hospice Northwest in Seattle, at age 72. He was interred at Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park in the Bitter Lake neighborhood of the city. Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighborhood was named by him after the ship HMS Discovery, which was commanded by George Vancouver on his expedition in the Pacific Northwest . The Judge Voorhees Room at the park is named in his honor.