William K. Sessions III

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 by	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Michael E. Horowitz
Succeeded by	Patti B. Saris
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont
In office 2002–2010
Preceded by	John Garvan Murtha
Succeeded by	Christina Reiss
Vice Chair of the Sentencing Commission
In office 1999–2009
Succeeded by	Charles R. Breyer
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont
In office August 14, 1995 – June 15, 2014
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Fred I. Parker
Succeeded by	Geoffrey W. Crawford
Personal details
Born	1947 (age 76–77) Hartford, Connecticut
Education	Middlebury College (B.A.) George Washington University Law School (J.D.)

William K. Sessions III (born 1947 in Hartford, Connecticut) 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 Bill Clinton on June 30, 1995, to a seat vacated by 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.

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.

Sources

• William K. Sessions III at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.