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

Nomination Tracker
Nominee Information
Name: William C. Bryson
Court: Federal Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 98 days after nomination.
Nominated: June 22, 1994
ABA Rating: Unanimously Well Qualified
Questionnaire:
Hearing: August 17, 1994
QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more)
Reported: September 22, 1994
Confirmed: September 28, 1994
Vote: Voice vote

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

• United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

External links

• Judge Bryson's biography from the Federal Circuit website

Footnotes