Albert Vickers Bryan Jr. (November 8, 1926 – August 27, 2019) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Roa ...

Education and career

Born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, Bryan's father

Albert Vickers Bryan Albert Vickers Bryan (July 23, 1899 – March 13, 1984) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the E ...

, was also a federal judge. The Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse, in Alexandria, is named for his father. The younger Bryan served in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

reserve from 1944 to 1946, and then received a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

in 1950. He was in private practice of law in Alexandria from 1950 to 1962. He was a judge of the 16th Judicial Circuit of Virginia from 1962 to 1971.

Federal judicial service

Bryan was nominated by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

on July 19, 1971, to a new seat on the

created by 84 Stat. 294. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on July 29, 1971, and received his commission the same day. He served as Chief Judge from 1985 until December 1, 1991, when he assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

. His service terminated on August 27, 2019, due to his death of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

in Alexandria. In 1979, Bryan was selected by Chief Justice

Warren Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...

as one of the seven original members of the

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), also called the FISA Court, is a U.S. federal court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests for surveillance warrants ag ...

, and he served on that court until 1986.

Rocket docket

While serving as a federal judge, Bryan decided that justice was being dispensed too slowly for his liking, and as a result he ran a

rocket docket A rocket docket is a court or other tribunal that is noted for its speedy disposition of cases and controversies that come before it, often by maintaining strict adherence to the law as pertains to filing deadlines, etc. The term was originally ap ...

.''A Double Dose of Molasses in the Rocket Docket''
Washington Post, October 3, 2004; Page C04

Notable cases

* '' United States v. LaRouche'' (1988) * ''

French Quarter Cafe v. Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board ''French Quarter Cafe v. Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board'', 1:91-cv-01180 (1991) was a U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia case in which the U.S. state of Virginia's longstanding ban on gay bars was declared unconstitutional. B ...

'' (1991) * ''

Harvey v. Horan ''Harvey v. Horan'', 278 F. 3d 370 (4th Cir. 2002) is a federal court case dealing with felony, felons' rights of access to Genetic fingerprinting, DNA testing. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Eastern Virginia Distri ...

'' (2001)

References

Sources