William A. Fletcher

William A. Fletcher (born in 1945 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a United States federal appeals court judge who has sat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals since 1998.

Education and legal training

Fletcher received a B.A. from Harvard University in 1968 and another from Merton College, Oxford University in 1970 as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School in 1975. He then clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Stanley A. Weigel from 1975 to 1976. Fletcher then clerked for Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1976 to 1977.

Fletcher's mother, Betty Binns Fletcher, is also a judge on the Ninth Circuit, although she took senior status in 1998. Fletcher is an outspoken member of the American Constitution Society, a nationwide, liberal association of attorneys, judges (including United States Supreme Court Justices), law students, and politicians which serves as a counterbalance to the conservative Federalist Society.

Fletcher teaches Federal Courts at Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley, and Remedies at Golden Gate University School of Law.

Professional career

Fletcher was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1970 to 1972 and a Professor of Law at Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley from 1977 to 1998.

Federal judicial service

Fletcher was nominated by former President Bill Clinton for a seat on the Ninth Circuit vacated by William Albert Norris on January 7, 1997. He was confirmed in a 57-41 vote on October 8, 1998 and received his commission on October 9.

See also

*List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States