John Joseph Sirica was an American lawyer and jurist who was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 1957 to 1992. Sirica became known in the early 1970s for presiding over the federal criminal trials relating to the origins of the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. In 1973, as Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Sirica ordered President Nixon to turn over Watergate-related recordings of White House conversations. Wiki link