Harvie Wilkinson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Wilkinson in 2022 | |
| Chief Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit | |
| In office February 14, 1996 – February 15, 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel James Ervin III |
| Succeeded by | William Walter Wilkins |
| Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit | |
| Assumed office August 13, 1984 | |
| Appointed by | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | John D. Butzner Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Harvie Wilkinson III (1944-09-29)September 29, 1944 (age 81) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Jeff Wall (son-in-law) |
| Education | Yale University (BA) University of Virginia (JD) |
James Harvie Wilkinson III (born September 29, 1944) is an American attorney and jurist who has served as aUnited States circuit judge on theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit since 1984. He was appointed to the Fourth Circuit by PresidentRonald Reagan and he served as chief judge of the circuit from 1996 to 2003.
Wilkinson was born inNew York City,New York, to Alice Culbreth Wilkinson and J. Harvie Wilkinson Jr. He was raised inRichmond,Virginia, where he attendedSt. Christopher's School during the state'sMassive Resistance crisis concerning desegregation of the public schools. His father (CEO of State Planters Bank, later part ofCrestar Bank) joined to support GovernorJ. Lindsay Almond withNorfolk and Western Railroad CEO Stuart Saunders and Richmond School Board President (and laterSupreme Court Justice)Lewis F. Powell and others. Almond had broken with theByrd Organization and adhered to the decisions of theVirginia Supreme Court and a three judge federal panel on January 19, 1959 that declared as unconstitutional certain new laws designed to maintain segregation.[1]
Wilkinson attended theLawrenceville School in New Jersey, thenYale University, where he was a member ofSt. Anthony Hall, chairman of the Conservative Party of theYale Political Union, and later the Political Union's president. Following graduation with honors from Yale with aBachelor of Arts degree in 1967, he published his first book,Harry Byrd and The Changing Face of Virginia Politics, 1945–1966 (1968)[2]
Wilkinson enlisted in theUnited States Army in 1968 and served until 1969. Upon leaving the army, Wilkinson began law school at theUniversity of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville. In 1970, after completing only one year, Wilkinson took a leave of absence to run (at age 25) for aVirginia seat in theUnited States House of Representatives. He ran as a Republican against 3-term incumbent DemocratDavid E. Satterfield III and later he joked about losing by a significant margin, noting that Satterfield had a billboard urging voters to send Wilkinson back to law school.[3][4] Wilkinson then resumed his legal studies and was awarded aJuris Doctor in 1972 and soon passed the Virginia bar exam.
Wilkinson and his wife, Lossie, have two children.[5] Their daughter Porter Wilkinson also clerked for theUnited States Supreme Court, serving in the chambers of Chief JusticeJohn Roberts in 2007–2008.[6] She is married to prominent appellate attorneyJeff Wall.
After graduation from law school, Wilkinson served as alaw clerk to newly confirmed U.S. Supreme Court justiceLewis F. Powell Jr., a longtime family friend, from 1972 to 1973. After his clerkship, Wilkinson declined joining a large law firm. Instead, he returned toCharlottesville and became a professor of law at the University of Virginia, where he taught as an associate professor for five years. Wilkinson also wrote and published his second book, about his clerkship with Justice Powell:Serving Justice: A Supreme Court Clerk's View (1974).[7]
Wilkinson spent three years (1978–1981) working forNorfolk'sThe Virginian-Pilot, including as editorial page editor.[8] He later credited this with broadening his practical experience of both government at many levels, and with people in all walks of life, as well as helping his time management skills.[3] In 1979, Wilkinson published his third book,From Brown to Bakke.[9] In 1982, Wilkinson resumed his legal career, joining the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, eventually becoming deputy assistant attorney general. He returned to teaching at theUniversity of Virginia School of Law in 1983.[10]
On November 10, 1983, as Wilkinson briefly returned to teach at the University of Virginia School of Law as a full professor, President Ronald Reagan nominated him to the Fourth Circuit seat vacated by JudgeJohn D. Butzner Jr., who had recently retired. Despite some controversy and after hearings on November 16, 1983, and February 22, 1984, theUnited States Senate confirmed Wilkinson on August 9, 1984, by a 58–39 vote. He received his commission on August 13, 1984.[10]
Wilkinson served as the chief judge of the Fourth Circuit from 1996 to 2003, during which time he wrote and published his fourth book,One Nation Indivisible: How Ethnic Separatism Threatens America (1997).[11] In 2003, Judge Wilkinson wrote the majority opinion upholding the right of the United States government to detainYaser Esam Hamdi indefinitely without access to counsel or a court. Hamdi was a U.S. citizen captured during the U.S. invasion ofAfghanistan, and the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately overturned that decision.
As early as August 2000, Wilkinson was viewed asa potential Supreme Court nominee should George W. Bush winthe 2000 presidential election.[12] With the announcement of Chief JusticeRehnquist's illness in the fall of 2004,NPR reported Wilkinson remained on the short list as a potential replacement.[13] After Bush was re-electedin 2004, Wilkinson was viewed as amongst Bush's favorites as a potential new Chief Justice.[14] Wilkinson agreed to an interview with theNew York Times, reportedly undermining his candidacy amongst the Bush inner circle.[15]
In 2006, Wilkinson penned an op-ed article inThe Washington Post, castigating both theleft andright on the issue ofgay marriage. Writing that the "American constitutional tradition" has been a "chief casualty in the struggle over same-sex marriage", Wilkinson opined that marriage should be regulated through ordinarylegislative means and he opposed "the rush to constitutionalize" the dispute.[16]
On June 24, 2008, Wilkinson authored a concurring opinion inRichmond Medical Center For Women v. Herring that upheld the Virginia ban onpartial-birth abortions. In his concurrence, he voiced a strong opposition to the practice of partial-birth abortions:
The fact is that we—civilized people—are retreating to the haven of our Constitution to justify dismembering a partly born child and crushing its skull. Surely centuries hence, people will look back on this gruesome practice done in the name of fundamental law by a society of high achievement. And they will shudder."[17]
In 2012, Wilkinson published his fifth book (and second throughOxford University Press),Cosmic Constitutional Theory: Why Americans Are Losing Their Inalienable Right to Self-Governance.[18] The following year, Wilkinson wrote an opinion upholding theBaltimore Ravens use of its previously used "Flying B" logo in videos, photographs, and displays as fair use.[19]
In 2016, Wilkinson dissented when JudgeG. Steven Agee found that sectarian prayers offered byRowan County, North Carolina commissioners at their meetings did not violate theEstablishment Clause of theUnited States Constitution. That judgment was rejected by the full circuiten banc by a vote of 10–5, with Wilkinson now writing for the majority while Agee andPaul V. Niemeyer authored dissents.[20][21] In June 2018, theSupreme Court of the United States denied review, over the written dissent of JusticeClarence Thomas joined byNeil Gorsuch.[22][23]
In 2017 Wilkinson publishedAll Falling Faiths: Reflections on the Promise and Failure of the 1960s.
In March 2018, Wilkinson wrote a dissent when the circuit denieden banc rehearing to a divided panel conclusion that the BladensburgPeace Cross memorial from World War I now violated the Constitution'sEstablishment Clause.[24][25] The Fourth Circuit judgment was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court inAmerican Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019).[26]
In August 2018, Wilkinson wrote for the panel majority when it found that the Constitution'sEighth Amendment did not prevent Virginia from criminally prohibiting those it identified as "habitual drunkards" from possessing alcohol.[27] JudgeDiana Gribbon Motz specially concurred, arguing that the majority was ignoringPowell v. Texas (1968).[28] In July 2019, the full circuiten banc reversed the panel by a vote of 8–7, with Motz writing for the majority and Wilkinson now writing the principal dissent.[29][30] The majority and concurring opinions criticized Wilkinson for incivility and "inflammatory language", which Wilkinson defended in an additional, special dissent.[31]
On April 7, 2025, Wilkinson was one of three judges to order the federal government to returnKilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was deported to El Salvador, back to the United States.[32] On April 17, 2025, Wilkinson denied the government's request for an emergency stay pending appeal and for awrit of mandamus. He reasoned that unchecked executive power to deport individuals withoutdue process could extend to U.S. citizens, citing PresidentDonald Trump's remark that "homegrowns are next". Emphasizing judicial responsibility to preserve constitutional limits, Wilkinson invoked PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower's enforcement ofBrown v. Board of Education II (1955) as a model for upholdingrule of law, and cautioned that continued escalation of institutional conflict could lead toconstitutional "crisis".[33]
Wilkinson has published numerous editorials, law review articles,[34] and six books.
In 2004, the University of Virginia awarded Wilkinson the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law, its highest external honor.[34]
In 2009, the Lawrenceville School awarded Wilkinson its highest honor.[36]
In 2016, theJohn Barbee MinorInn of Court in Charlottesville recognized Wilkinson's three decades of judicial service with a Certificate of Merit and Lifetime Achievement Award.[37]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit 1984–present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Chief Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit 1996–2003 | Succeeded by |
