Judge David Stewart Cercone was appointed Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania by President George W. Bush in 2002. Prior to his appointment, Judge Cercone had been a member of the Pennsylvania judiciary for twenty years. He began his judicial career in 1982 after being elected district justice for the communities of Stowe and McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. In 1985, at the age of thirty-two, Judge Cercone became the youngest person ever elected to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. In both elections, Cercone was the nominee of both the Democratic and Republican Parties.

Before becoming a federal judge, Judge Cercone served in both the criminal and civil divisions of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. In 1993, he was appointed administrative judge for the criminal division by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In that capacity, Judge Cercone supervised fourteen judges and over two hundred court employees. During his tenure, Cercone implemented an accelerated plea docked to prevent jail overcrowding and to reduce case backlogs. He also established the first “drug court” in western Pennsylvania for the rehabilitation of drug offenders.

 Judge Cercone received his Bachelors of Arts degree, magna cum laude, for Westminister College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, in 1974. He graduated from Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1977. Following law school, Cercone clerked for Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Paul R. Zavarella. In 1979, he was appointed an assistant district attorney for Allegheny County, and specialized in the prosecution of narcotics and violent crime cases.

 In addition to his judicial career, Judge Cercone has been an active teacher. Since 1982, Cercone has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. He has also been a part-time faculty member at Robert Morris University. In 2001, he was selected by students at the University of Pittsburgh to be the recipient of the first Student’s Choice Award for outstanding instruction.

 Judge Cercone currently serves on many committees of the Allegheny County Bar Association, and is a former member of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania. Since 1999, he has served on the board of visitors of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

 Judge Cercone and his wife, Mary Ann, reside in Stowe Township, Pennsylvania, with their three children.