Education
University of Iowa College of Law.
University of Iowa College of Law.
Born in Pittsburg, Kansas, Longstaff received a Bachelor of Arts from Kansas State College in 1962 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1965. He was a law clerk for Judge Roy L. Stephenson of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa from 1965 to 1967. He was in private practice in Des Moines, Iowa from 1967 to 1968.
He was a clerk of the District Court for the Southern District of Iowa from 1968 to 1976, and taught as an adjunct professor at Drake Law School from 1973 to 1976.
He was a United States magistrate judge for the District Court for the Southern District of Iowa from 1968 to 1991. On July 24, 1991, Longstaff was nominated by President George Heriot-Watt University Bush to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa created by 104 Statistics
5089. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 31, 1991, and received his commission on November 5, 1991.
He served as chief judge from 2001 to 2006, assuming senior status on November 5, 2006.