David Leonard Barnes (January 28, 1760 – November 3, 1812) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island and the winning party and the winning attorney in the first United States Supreme Court decision, West v. Barnes (1791).

Born on January 28, 1760, in Scituate, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America, Barnes graduated from Harvard University in 1780 and read law in 1783.

[1] He was United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island from 1797 to 1801.

[3] Barnes received a recess appointment from President Thomas Jefferson on April 30, 1801, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island vacated by Judge Benjamin Bourne.

He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 26, 1802, and received his commission the same day.