Glen Morgan Williams (February 17, 1920 – November 4, 2012) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

Education and career

Born in Jonesville,

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 ...

, Williams received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Milligan College Milligan University is a private Christian university in Milligan College, Tennessee. Founded in 1866 as the Buffalo Male and Female Institute, and known as Milligan College from 1881 to May 2020, the school has a student population of more tha ...

in 1940, and enrolled in the fall of 1941 at the University of Virginia School of Law. After the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, having never seen the ocean. During his officer training, he was a roommate of

Herman Wouk Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author best known for historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951) for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. His other major works include ''The Winds of War'' and ...

, who told of their experiences in the opening chapter of

The Caine Mutiny ''The Caine Mutiny'' is a 1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk. The novel grew out of Wouk's personal experiences aboard two destroyer-minesweepers in the Pacific Theater in World War II. Among its themes, it deals with the moral ...

. Williams was a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in the

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, from 1942 to 1946. After his discharge, he returned to law school and received a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1948. Before his graduation, he was elected

Commonwealth's attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a lo ...

of Lee County, Virginia in 1948, and served in that position until 1952. He was in private practice in Jonesville from 1952 to 1976. He was a member of the

Virginia Senate The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

from 1953 to 1955. Williams was a part-time

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduc ...

for the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia from 1963 to 1975. In 1964, Williams ran as the Republican nominee for Congress in Virginia's Ninth District but lost to the incumbent, W. Pat Jennings.

Federal judicial service

Williams was a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Williams was nominated by President Gerald Ford on September 8, 1976, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia vacated by Judge

Theodore Roosevelt Dalton Theodore Roosevelt Dalton (July 3, 1901 – October 30, 1989) was a Virginia attorney and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. He was known as Virginia's "Mr. Republican." Ed ...

, after Senator

William L. Scott William Lloyd Scott (July 1, 1915February 14, 1997) was an American Republican politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He served in both the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. He was the first Republican elec ...

derailed the nomination of the President's first choice. 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 September 17, 1976, and received his commission the same day. He assumed

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

on November 21, 1988. Williams took inactive senior status in February 2010.

Law clerks

Williams' former law clerks include

Cynthia D. Kinser Cynthia Dinah Kinser (born December 20, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Kinser was elected by the Virginia General Assembly to her first 12-year term to the Virginia Supreme Court in 1 ...

, the first woman to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia;

George Allen George Allen may refer to: Politics and law * George E. Allen (1896–1973), American political operative and one-time head coach of the Cumberland University football team * George Allen (Australian politician) (1800–1877), Mayor of Sydney and ...

, who served as Governor of Virginia and a member of the United States Senate; Karen Gould, the first woman to serve as executive director of the

Virginia State Bar The Virginia State Bar (VSB) is the administrative agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia created to regulate, improve and advance the legal profession in Virginia. Membership in good standing in the VSB is mandatory for attorneys wishing to pr ...

; Virginia Circuit Court judges Randall Lowe and John Kilgore; United States Magistrate Judge Cynthia Eddy of the Western District of Pennsylvania; United States Bankruptcy Judge Trish Brown of the District of Oregon.

Notable cases

Williams' most famous cases involved the coal mining industry. He wrote an opinion addressing the constitutionality of the

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States. SMCRA created two programs: one for regulating active coal mines and a second ...

. The Supreme Court agreed in part and disagreed in part with his conclusions. He dealt with the civil disobedience of the

United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...

in connection with the

Pittston Coal strike The Pittston Coal strike was a United States strike action led by the United Mine Workers Union (UMWA) against the Pittston Coal Company, nationally headquartered in Pittston, Pennsylvania. The strike, which lasted from April 5, 1989 to Febr ...

in 1989–1990. He enjoined the members of the Bituminous Coal Operators Association to pay more for the health care of 100,000 retired and disabled miners, in a case that led to the passage of the Coal Act, 26 U.S.C. 9701, et seq.McGlothlin v. Connors, 142 F.R.D. 626 (W.D. Va. 1992), cited by the Supreme Court in Barnhart v. Sigmon Coal Co., 534 U.S. 438 (2002).

Death

Williams donated his papers to the

Appalachian School of Law The Appalachian School of Law (ASL) is an ABA-approved private law school on a four building campus in Grundy, Virginia, a small town near the convergence of Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The school offers a three-year Juris Doctor de ...

. He died November 4, 2012, at the age of 92, in Johnson City,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

References

External links

*
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 5063, honoring Judge Glen M. Williams

"Judge Glen M. Williams, 'A Member of the Greatest Generation,'" by Judge James P. Jones”

Tribute to Judge Glen Morgan Williams, 152 Cong. Rec. S10448 (Sept. 28, 2006), remarks of Senators Allen and Warner

HONORING U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE GLEN WILLIAMS, ___ Cong. Rec. ___ (Nov. 15, 2012), remarks of Rep. Griffith
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Glen Morgan 1920 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American judges United States Navy personnel of World War II Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia Milligan University alumni People from Jonesville, Virginia United States district court judges appointed by Gerald Ford United States magistrate judges United States Navy officers University of Virginia School of Law alumni Republican Party Virginia state senators