William A. Fletcher
Encyclopedia
William A. Fletcher is a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 federal appeals court
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...

 judge who has sat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals since 1998.

Education and legal training

Fletcher went to Roosevelt High school in Seattle, Washington, graduating in 1964. Fletcher received a B.A. from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1968 and another from Merton College
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...

, Oxford University in 1970 as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School
Yale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...

 in 1975. He then clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Stanley A. Weigel from 1975 to 1976. Fletcher then clerked for Associate Justice
Associate Justice
Associate Justice or Associate Judge is the title for a member of a judicial panel who is not the Chief Justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the United States Supreme Court and some state supreme courts, and for some other courts in Commonwealth...

 William J. Brennan, Jr.
William J. Brennan, Jr.
William Joseph Brennan, Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990...

 of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1976 to 1977.

Fletcher's mother, Betty Binns Fletcher
Betty Binns Fletcher
Betty Binns Fletcher is an American lawyer and judge. She has served as a federal judge on the San Francisco-based United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1979.-Early life and education:...

, is also a judge on the Ninth Circuit, although she took senior status
Senior status
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges, and judges in some state court systems. After federal judges have reached a certain combination of age and years of service on the federal courts, they are allowed to assume senior status...

 in 1998.

Fletcher teaches Federal Courts at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall),.

Professional career

Fletcher was a Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 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
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

, his Rhodes Scholar classmate at Oxford, for a seat on the Ninth Circuit vacated by William Albert Norris
William Albert Norris
William Albert Norris was a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Norris was nominated for the position by Jimmy Carter on February 27, 1980 after the seat which Walter Raleigh Ely, Jr. had occupied became vacant. After being confirmed by the senate in June, 1980, he...

 on January 7, 1997. He was confirmed in a 57-41 vote on October 8, 1998 and received his commission on October 9.
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