John Edward Dowdell (born January 22, 1955)^[1] is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

Dowdell was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he attended Bishop Kelley High School.^[1] He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978 from Wake Forest University, where he played football for the Demon Deacons as a Wide Receiver and Defensive Back from 1973 to 1977. Among his teammates are United States Senator Richard Burr and Charlie Crist, the former Governor of Florida.^{[citation needed]} He received his Juris Doctor in 1981 from the University of Tulsa College of Law. He served as a law clerk for Judge William Judson Holloway, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 1981 to 1983. After his clerkship, Dowdell joined the law firm of Norman, Wohlgemuth, Chandler & Dowdell, P.C., in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1983, becoming partner in 1987. He handled civil and criminal matters in both trial and appellate courts. He spent 29 years in private practice where he was involved in six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, litigated numerous cases in front of the Tenth Circuit, and performed extensive pro bono representation on behalf of criminal defendants. Beginning in 1999, he served on a pro bono basis as an Adjunct Settlement Judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.^[2][3]