Stephen Fain Williams (September 23, 1936 – August 7, 2020) was a United States circuit judge of the

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate co ...

until his death from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

on August 7, 2020.

Early life and career

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he was the son of prominent lawyer C. Dickerman Williams. He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' in 1958 from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

, where he was a member of the

Manuscript Society Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Toward the end of each academic year 16 rising seniors are inducted into the society, which meets twice weekly for dinner and discussion. Manuscript is reputedly ...

. He then received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

''magna cum laude'' in 1961 from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

. He was in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 20 ...

as a

Private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

E-2 from 1961 to 1962. He engaged in private practice from 1962 to 1966 and became an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal go ...

for the Southern District of New York in 1966. From 1969 to his appointment to the bench, he taught at the University of Colorado School of Law. During this time, he also served as a Visiting Professor of Law at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...

, and

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = " The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , p ...

and he was a consultant to the

Administrative Conference of the United States The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is an independent agency of the United States government that was established in 1964 by the Administrative Conference Act. The conference's purpose is to "promote improvements in the eff ...

and the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction o ...

Federal judicial service

Williams was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

on February 19, 1986, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey. 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 po ...

on June 13, 1986, and received commission on June 16, 1986. 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 September 30, 2001. In March 2017, Williams questioned if the government could constitutionally keep all prisoner court filings secret when the court, unanimous in judgment but in divided opinions, found that the press could not access

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...

video of

Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab also known as Abu Wa'el Dhiab was born in Lebanon. He was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba until he was released to Uruguay. His Guantanamo Internment Se ...

being

force fed Force-feeding is the practice of feeding a human or animal against their will. The term ''gavage'' (, , ) refers to supplying a substance by means of a small plastic feeding tube passed through the nose ( nasogastric) or mouth (orogastric) into t ...

during the Guantanamo Bay hunger strikes.

Author

Williams was the author of numerous books and scholarly articles. His book, ''Liberal Reform in an Illiberal Regime, 1906–1915: The Creation of Private Property in Russia'', was described by former acting Prime Minister of Russia

Yegor Gaidar Yegor Timurovich Gaidar (russian: link=no, Его́р Тиму́рович Гайда́р; ; 19 March 1956 – 16 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician, and author, and was the Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 Ju ...

as "absolutely splendid". Here are some of his other works:
The Reformer: How One Liberal Fought to Preempt the Russian Revolution, 2017
*The Natural Gas Revolution of 1985, 1985 *Cases on Oil and Gas Law (With R. Maxwell, P. Martin and B. Kramer), 6th ed., 1992 *Subjectivity, Expression & Privacy: Problems of Aesthetic Regulation, 62 Minnesota Law Review 1, 1977 *Running Out: The Problem of Exhaustible Resources, 7 Journal of Legal Studies 165, 1978 *Solar 'Access' and Property Rights: A Maverick Analysis, 11 Connecticut Law Review 430, 1979 *Implied Covenants for Development and Exploration in Oil and Gas Leases - The Determination of Profitability, 27 Kansas Law Review 443, 1979 *The Static Conception of the Common Law: A Comment, 9 Journal of Legal Studies 277, 1980 *Getting Downtown - Relief of Highway Congestion Through Pricing, Regulation, p. 45, March/April, 1981 *Implied Covenants in Oil and Gas Leases: Some General Principles, 29 Kansas Law Review 153, 1981 *An Energy Policy Perspective on Solar Hot Water Equipment Mandates, 1 UCLA Journal on Environmental Law and Policy 135, 1981 *'Liberty' In the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments: The Intentions of the Framers, 53 Colorado Law Review 117, 1981 *Severance Taxes: The Supreme Court's Role in Preserving a National Common Market for Energy Supplies, 53 Colorado Law Review 281, 1982 *Liberty and Property: The Problem of Government Benefits, 12 Journal of Legal Studies 3, 1983 *The Requirement of Beneficial Use as a Cause of Waste in Water Resource Development, 23 Natural Resource Journal 7, 1983 *Energy Policy in the Cold Light of Morning, 61 Texas Law Review 571, 1983 *Free Trade in Water Resources: Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas, 2 S. Ct. Economic Review 89, 1984 *Implied Covenants' Threat to the Value of Oil and Gas Reserves, 36 Institute on Oil and Gas Law and Taxation, Chapter 3, 1985 *Federal Preemption of State Conservation Laws After the Natural Gas Policy Act: A Preliminary Look, 56 Colorado Law Review 521, 1985 *The Proposed Sea-Change in Natural Gas Regulation, 6 Energy Law Journal 233, 1985 *The Law of Prior Appropriation: Possible Lessons for Hawaii 25 Natural Resource Journal 911, 1985 *The Legal Integration of Energy Markets (With Terence Daintith) Vol. 5 of Integration Through Law: Europe and the American Federal Experience, 1987 *Second Best: The Soft Underbelly of Deterrence Theory in Tort, 106 Harvard Law Review 932, 1993 *Hybrid Rulemaking, Under the Administrative Procedure Act: A Legal and Empirical Analysis, 42 University of Chicago Law Review 401, 1975 *Panel: Culpability, Restitution, and the Environment: The Vitality of Common Law Rules 21 Ecology Law Quarterly, 559, 1994 *Unconstitutional Conditions Through a Libertarian Prism Public Interest Law Review, 159, 1994 *Legal Versus Non-Legal Theory 17 Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 79, Winter, 1997 *Court-Gazing: Reviews of David C. Savage, Turning Right: The Making of the REhnquist Supreme Court, and H.W. Perry, Jr., Deciding to Decide: Agenda Setting in the United States Supreme Court, 91 Michigan Law Review, 1158, 1993 *The Roots of Deference (Review of Christopher F. Edley, Jr., Administrative Law: Rethinking Judicial Control of Bureaucracy) 100 Yale Law Journal 1103, 1991 *Background Norms in the Regulatory State, (Review of Cass R. Sunstein, After the Rights Revolution: Reconceiving the Regulatory State) 58 University of Chicago Law Review 419, 1991 *Fingers in the Pie (Review of Jeremy Rabkin, Judicial Compulsions: How Public Law Distorts Public Policy) 68 Texas Law Review 1303, 1990 *Review of Morton Horwitz, The Transformation of American Law, 25 UCLA Law Review 1187, 1978 *Review of Richard A. Posner, Economic Analysis of Law, 45 University of Colorado Law Review 437-53, 1974 *Fixing the Rate of Return After Duquesne, 8 Yale Journal on Reg. 159, 1991 *Pollution Control: Taxes v. Regulation (International Institute for Economic Research, Original Paper 23), August, 1979 *Optimizing Water Use: The Return Flow Issue, 44 University of Colorado Law Review 301, 1973 *Risk Regulation and Its hazards: Review of Stephen Breyer, Breaking the Vicious Circle, 93 Mich. L. Rev. 1498, 1995 *Deregulatory Takings and Breach of the Regulatory Contract: A Comment 71 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1000, 1996

Death

Williams was diagnosed with

in May 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C. The first cases relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C., were reported on March 7, 2020. The city has enacted a variety of public health measures in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus, including limiting business activiti ...

He was admitted to Sibley Memorial Hospital and put on a ventilator. On August 7, 2020, after about two months in the hospital, he died from complications as a result of the virus.

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Stephen Fain 1936 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Lawyers from New York City Military personnel from New York City Southern Methodist University faculty United States court of appeals judges appointed by Ronald Reagan UCLA School of Law faculty University of Chicago Law School faculty Writers from New York City Yale College alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Washington, D.C.