Appointed by Bill Clinton Parents Betty Binns Fletcher Role Judge | Name William Fletcher Preceded by William Norris | |
Born June 6, 1945 (age 79)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. ( 1945-06-06 ) Alma mater Harvard University
Merton College, Oxford
Yale Law School Education University of Oxford, Harvard College, Yale Law School, Harvard University, Merton College, Oxford People also search for Betty Binns Fletcher, Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr., David W Louisell Books Rebel Private: Front and, Pleading and Procedur, Federal Courts, Pleading and Procedur, Pleading and Procedur | ||
Currie Lecture 2008 | William A. Fletcher, Whose Court Are They?
William A. Fletcher (born June 6, 1945) is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Contents
- Currie Lecture 2008 William A Fletcher Whose Court Are They
- Education and legal training
- Professional career
- Federal judicial service
- References
Education and legal training
Fletcher went to Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Washington, graduating in 1964. Fletcher received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1968 and another from Merton College, Oxford University in 1970 as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1975. He then clerked for Judge Stanley A. Weigel from 1975 to 1976. Fletcher then clerked for Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. of the United States Supreme Court from 1976 to 1977.
Fletcher's mother, Betty Binns Fletcher, was also a judge on the Ninth Circuit, although she held senior status from 1998 until her death in 2012.
Fletcher teaches Federal Courts at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall).
Professional career
Fletcher was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy from 1970 to 1972 and a Professor of Law at Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley from 1977 to 1998. Fletcher was the author of the Ninth Circuit's decision in Demers v. Austin (January 2014). He also published a 100-page dissent on the decision to deny Kevin Cooper an en banc hearing. Cooper had been convicted of murdering a family and a houseguest and DNA testing placed his blood on a shirt that contained the victim's blood. In the dissent Fletcher raised the possibility that the Prosecution had deliberately planted Cooper's blood on the shirt, as well as various other pieces of evidence. Notably 10 additional judges on the panel expressed similar concerns, including Chief Justice Alex Kozinski (http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/05/11/05-99004o.pdf).
Federal judicial service
Fletcher was nominated twice by former President Bill Clinton, his Rhodes Scholar classmate at Oxford, for a seat on the Ninth Circuit vacated by William Albert Norris in April 1995, and on January 7, 1997. His first nomination was never voted on by the Senate, but his second nomination was confirmed in a 57-41 vote on October 8, 1998 and he received his commission on October 9.