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William K. Sessions III

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(Redirected from William K. Sessions) American judge (born 1947) For other people named William Sessions, see William Sessions (disambiguation).
William K. Sessions III
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont
Incumbent
Assumed office
June 15, 2014
Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission
In office
2009–2010
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byMichael E. Horowitz
Succeeded byPatti B. Saris
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont
In office
2002–2010
Preceded byJohn Garvan Murtha
Succeeded byChristina Reiss
Vice Chair of the Sentencing Commission
In office
1999–2009
Succeeded byCharles Breyer
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont
In office
August 14, 1995 – June 15, 2014
Appointed byBill Clinton
Preceded byFred I. Parker
Succeeded byGeoffrey W. Crawford
Personal details
Born (1947-02-09) February 9, 1947 (age 77)
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
EducationMiddlebury College (BA)
George Washington University (JD)

William Kenneth Sessions III (born February 9, 1947) is serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont and has served as the Vice Chair and eventually as Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission. He was confirmed on October 21, 2009 as Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission, and served until December 22, 2010.

Education and career

Sessions was educated at Middlebury College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969. He earned a Juris Doctor in 1972 from the George Washington University Law School. Sessions served as a United States Army First Lieutenant. He was a law clerk for Judge Hilton Dier in Addison County District Court in 1973. He later worked for the Addison County Public Defender before entering private practice in 1978. He also worked as an adjunct professor at Vermont Law School from 1978 until 1995. In 1992 he managed the successful reelection campaign of Senator Patrick Leahy, who defeated Jim Douglas.

Federal judicial service

Sessions was nominated by President Bill Clinton on June 30, 1995, to a seat vacated by Judge Fred I. Parker. He was confirmed by the Senate on August 11, 1995, and received his commission on August 14, 1995. Sessions served as chief judge from 2002 to 2010. He assumed senior status on June 15, 2014.

Notable case

On September 12, 2007, Judge Sessions ruled in favor of the Sierra Club, the states of Vermont and New York, and other environmental groups in rejecting the auto industry’s attempt to block states from regulating emissions from cars. Sessions' ruling opens the doors for New York and Vermont to proceed with enacting the California Clean Car (Pavley) Standards, pending United States Environmental Protection Agency approval. These standards, adopted by California and at least 11 other states, aim to reduce emissions from cars by 30 percent when fully implemented in 2016. This precedent will likely have an important impact on similar cases pending in California and Rhode Island.

U.S. Sentencing Commission

On April 20, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sessions to be Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission. Sessions' nomination languished with no full Senate vote for more than six months, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid contending that Senate Republicans had stalled Sessions' nomination in retaliation for the speed of Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation process. Reid filed cloture on Sessions' nomination on October 20, 2009, and the Senate confirmed Sessions in a voice vote on October 21, 2009.

References

  1. Middlebury College Bulletin 1970-71. Middlebury College. 1970. p. 144.
  2. Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourth Congress, First Session, on Confirmations of Appointees to the Federal Judiciary, July 18; August 3; September 28; October 24; November 30; December 19, 1995. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1997. p. 442. ISBN 978-0-16-047149-0.
  3. "Former Commissioner Information". United States Sentencing Commission. 28 October 2013. Archived from the original on 23 May 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  4. William K. Sessions III at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  5. "Sierra Club website".
  6. States Sentencing Commission Nomination
  7. "Obama Taps Another MoFo Lawyer". The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.

External links

Legal offices
Preceded byFred I. Parker Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont
1995–2014 		Succeeded byGeoffrey W. Crawford
Preceded byUnknown Vice Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission
1999–2009 		Succeeded byCharles Breyer
Preceded byJohn Garvan Murtha Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont
2002–2010 		Succeeded byChristina Reiss
Preceded byMichael E. Horowitz Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission
2009–2010 		Succeeded byPatti B. Saris
Senior district judges of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Connecticut
E. New York
N. New York
S. New York
W. New York
Vermont
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