William K. Sessions III

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 President Bill Clinton on June 30, 1995, to a seat vacated by Judge 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 cases

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.

On May 9, 2025, Judge Sessions ruled that Rümeysa Öztürk, a foreign student of Tufts University who was detained by ICE for allegedly supporting Hamas to be released on bond. He said the government offered no evidence to keep her in detention and that her First Amendment and due process rights were violated, adding that her continued detention "potentially chills the speech of millions" of people.

U.S. 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.

References

References

1. (1970). "Middlebury College Bulletin 1970-71". Middlebury College.
2. (1997). "Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Fourth Congress, First Session, on Confirmations of Appointees to the Federal Judiciary, July 18; August 3; September 28; October 24; November 30; December 19, 1995". U.S. Government Printing Office.
3. (28 October 2013). "Former Commissioner Information". United States Sentencing Commission.
4. {{FJC Bio
5. "Sierra Club website".
6. (May 9, 2025). "Tufts Student Arrested by ICE Is Released From Detention". [[The New York Times]].
7. Park, Hanna. (May 12, 2025). "Where things stand in 5 of the Trump administration's highest profile immigration cases".
8. (May 9, 2025). "Judge releases Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk who was detained by ICE".
9. United States Sentencing Commission Nomination]
10. "Obama Taps Another MoFo Lawyer".