William Bryson
William Curtis Bryson is a federal judge serving on senior status for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He joined the court in 1994 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. On January 7, 2013, Bryson assumed senior status on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit after serving on the court for 18 years.[1] Bryson also served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review.[2]
Education
Bryson graduated from Harvard University with his bachelor's degree in 1969, and from the University of Texas School of Law with his J.D. in 1973.[1]
Professional career
- 1994: Deputy Associate United States Attorney General
- 1986-1994: Deputy Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice
- 1982-1986: Special Counsel, Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice
- 1979-1982: Chief, Appellate Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice
- 1978-1979: Assistant to the Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice
- 1975-1978: Private Practice, Washington, D.C.
- 1974-1975: Law Clerk, Hon. Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court of the United States
- 1973-1974: Law Clerk, Hon. Henry Friendly, United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit[1]
Judicial career
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review
Bryson was the presiding judge of the three-judge panel that constitutes the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. Bryson was appointed to the court by Chief Justice John Roberts in 2011. His term expired on May 18, 2018. The other two judges on the panel were Jose Cabranes and Richard Tallman.[2]
Federal Circuit
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| Nominee Information |
| Name: William C. Bryson |
| Court: Federal Circuit |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 98 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: June 22, 1994
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| ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
|
| Questionnaire: |
| Hearing: August 17, 1994
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| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: September 22, 1994
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| Confirmed: September 28, 1994
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| Vote: Voice vote
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Bryson was nominated by Bill Clinton on June 22, 1994, to a seat vacated by Howard Markey upon Markey's retirement from judicial service. The American Bar Association rated Bryson Unanimously Well Qualified for the nomination.[3] Hearings on Bryson's nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on August 17, 1994, and his nomination was reported by then-U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) on September 22, 1994. Bryson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 28, 1994, on a voice vote and he received his commission on September 29, 1994. On January 7, 2013, Bryson assumed senior status after serving on the court for 18 years.[1][4]
Noteworthy cases
Federal Circuit raises standard to remove federal employees (2021)
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 11, 2021, set a new bar for firing federal agency employees in the case Santos v. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).[5][6]
The court found that NASA failed to provide justification for placing its employee, Fernando Santos, on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). An agency generally issues a PIP as a signal to a poor-performing employee before initiating disciplinary action.[5][6]
The three-judge panel (Judges Kathleen M. O'Malley, William Bryson, and Todd Hughes) ruled that federal law requires agencies to justify the issuance of a PIP when a fired employee challenges a PIP-based removal. Prior to the court’s decision, agencies had not been required to justify the use of a PIP.[5][6]
“Allowing a PIP to serve as the pre-removal notice required by Section 4303 is not the same as allowing the mere fact of a PIP to create a presumption that the pre-PIP conduct was actually unacceptable,” wrote Judge O’Malley in the opinion. “Thus, we hold that, once an agency chooses to impose a post-PIP termination, it must prove by substantial evidence that the employee’s unacceptable performance ‘continued’—i.e., it was unacceptable before the PIP and remained so during the PIP.”[5][6]
The judges remanded the case to the Merit Systems Protection Board for further proceedings.[5][6]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Federal Judicial Center, "Biographical directory of federal judges," accessed May 26, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Federal Association of Scientist, "FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE COURT OF REVIEW," accessed February 10, 2014
- ↑ American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III judicial nominees, 103rd Congress," accessed May 26, 2016
- ↑ United States Congress, "PN 1530 - William C. Bryson — The Judiciary," accessed May 26, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Government Executive, "In 'Landmark' Ruling, Court Raises Threshold for Firing Feds," March 19, 2021
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 JUSTIA, "Santos v. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, No. 19-2345 (Fed. Cir. 2021)," accessed April 12, 2021
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Howard Markey |
Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit 1994 – 2013 |
Succeeded by: Todd Hughes
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| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Active judges |
Chief Judge: Kimberly Moore • Leonard Stark • Sharon Prost • Pauline Newman • Alan Lourie • Timothy Dyk • Jimmie V. Reyna • Richard Gary Taranto • Raymond Chen • Todd Hughes • Kara Farnandez Stoll • Tiffany Cunningham | ||
| Senior judges |
Alvin Schall • Haldane Mayer • Richard Linn • William Bryson • S. Jay Plager • Raymond Clevenger • Evan Wallach • | ||
| Former judges | Kathleen M. O'Malley • Paul Michel • Randall Rader • Arthur Gajarsa • Daniel Friedman • Glenn Archer • James Almond • Jean Bissell • Phillip Baldwin • Marion Bennett • Arnold Cowen • Oscar Davis • Shiro Kashiwa • Don Laramore • Howard Markey • Jack Miller • Philip Nichols • Helen Nies • Giles Rich • Byron Skelton • Edward Samuel Smith • | ||
| Former Chief judges |
Paul Michel • Sharon Prost • Haldane Mayer • Glenn Archer • Howard Markey • Helen Nies • | ||
