- J. Harvie Wilkinson III
Infobox Judge
name = J. Harvie Wilkinson III
imagesize = 170px
caption = Wilkinson andEdward Roy Becker at a reception
office =Chief Judge ofUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
termstart = 1996
termend = 2003
nominator = "Automatic succession"
appointer =
predecessor =Samuel James Ervin III
successor =William Walter Wilkins
office2 = Judge onFourth Circuit
termstart2 = 1984
termend2 =
nominator2 =Ronald Reagan
appointer2 =
predecessor2 =John D. Butzner, Jr.
successor2 = Incumbent
birthdate = Birth date and age|1944|9|29|mf=y
birthplace =New York, NY
deathdate =
deathplace =
spouse =J. Harvie Wilkinson III (born in
New York, New York ,September 29 ,1944 ) (full name: James Harvie Wilkinson III) is afederal judge serving on theFourth Circuit Court of Appeals . His name has been raised at several junctures as a possible nominee to theUnited States Supreme Court .Early life and career
Wilkinson was raised in
Richmond, Virginia , and graduated from theLawrenceville School and with honors fromYale University in 1967, where he was a member ofSt. Anthony Hall and President of theYale Political Union . He served in the Army from 1968-1969, and in 1970, Wilkinson made an unsuccessful bid for aVirginia seat in theU.S. House of Representatives , running as a Republican. He then attended theUniversity of Virginia 'slaw school , graduating in 1972. From 1972-1973, he served as alaw clerk to Supreme Court JusticeLewis F. Powell , an experience about which he wrote a book. His clerkship was followed by five years as an Associate professor at theUniversity of Virginia School of Law , and three years working as an editor for Norfolk's "The Virginian-Pilot ". In 1982, he was given a position in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.Federal judgeship
On
January 30 ,1984 , after a brief return to the University of Virginia School of Law, Wilkinson was nominated to the Fourth Circuit byRonald Reagan . Wilkinson was confirmed by the Senate onAugust 9 1984 by a vote of 58-39.From 1996-2003, he served as chief judge on that court. In 2003, Wilkinson wrote the majority opinion upholding the right of the United States government to detain
Yaser Esam Hamdi indefinitely without access to counsel or a court. Hamdi was a U.S. citizen captured during the U.S. invasion ofAfghanistan . The decision was overturned by theSupreme Court of the United States .With the announcement of Chief Justice Rehnquist's illness in the fall of 2004, many commentators listed Wilkinson as a potential Bush nominee to the Supreme Court. Wilkinson talked about his July interview with Bush in the "
New York Times ", undermining his candidacy amongst the Bush inner circle. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301781_2.html Once More, Bush Turns To His Inner Circle] "Washington Post" ]His daughter,
Porter Wilkinson , is a graduate of theUniversity of Virginia School of Law and is clerking forChief Justice John G. Roberts during the October Term 2008.In 2006, Wilkinson penned an article in the
Washington Post , castigating both the left and right on the issue ofgay marriage . He wrote that the "American constitutional tradition" has been a "chief casualty in the struggle over same-sex marriage" and that marriage should be regulated through ordinarylegislative means rather than by being "constitutionalize [d] ." [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090400700.html Hands Off Constitutions] J. Harvie Wilkinson III ]Writings
Wilkinson has written four books: "Harry Byrd and The Changing Face of Virginia Politics, 1945-1966" (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1968), "Serving Justice: A Supreme Court Clerk's View" (New York: Charterhouse, 1974), "From Brown to Bakke: The Supreme Court and School Integration, 1954-1978" (Oxford University Press, 1993), and "One Nation Indivisible: How Ethnic Separatism Threatens America" (Addison Wesley Longman, 1997).
Clerks
See also
*
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
*George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates References
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