Lynn Winmill | |
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| Senior Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Idaho | |
| Assumed office August 16, 2021 | |
| Chief Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Idaho | |
| In office July 1999 – January 1, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Lodge |
| Succeeded by | David Nye |
| Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Idaho | |
| In office August 14, 1995 – August 16, 2021 | |
| Appointed by | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Harold Lyman Ryan |
| Succeeded by | Amanda Brailsford |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Barry Lynn Winmill (1952-03-18)March 18, 1952 (age 73) Blackfoot, Idaho, U.S. |
| Education | Idaho State University (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
Barry Lynn Winmill (born March 18, 1952) is aseniorUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Idaho.
Born and raised inBlackfoot, Idaho, Winmill grew up on a dairy farm.[1] He received aBachelor of Arts degree fromIdaho State University (ISU) inPocatello in 1974,[2] where he was student body president.[1] Winmill earned hisJuris Doctor fromHarvard Law School in 1977.[2]
Following law school, Winmill was in private practice for two years inDenver,Colorado, and back in Pocatello from 1979 to 1987.[2]
Appointed by GovernorCecil Andrus in 1987,[1] Winmill was a state judge in theIdaho District Court (Sixth District) in Pocatello from 1987 to 1995.[2] From 1992 to 1995, he served as the administrative district judge and chair of the state's Evidence Rules Committee.[1]
Winmill was concurrently an adjunct professor at ISU (1991–1995), and a finalist on three occasions for theIdaho Supreme Court, but he was never nominated.[3]
On May 24, 1995, Winmill was nominated by PresidentBill Clinton to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, vacated by JudgeHarold Lyman Ryan, who assumedsenior status in early 1993.[3][4][a] The American Bar Association'sStanding Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which rates judicial nominees, unanimously rated Winmill as "well qualified" for the post (the committee's highest rating).[6]
Confirmed by the Senate byvoice vote on August 11, 1995,[7] Winmill received his commission three days later.[2] He served as chief judge for over 19 years, from 1999 to January 1, 2019,[8] and assumed senior status on August 16, 2021.[2]
Winmill granted thehabeas corpus petition of Charles Fain, awrongfully convicted man who spent 18 years on Idaho's death row. Winmill orderedDNA testing that was previously unavailable; the new testing exonerated Fain, who was released from prison.[1] Winmill and Fain later made joint speaking appearances.[1]
In 1999, Winmill presided over the trial of Allan Elias, a southeastern Idaho businessman, on charges arising from a 1996 incident in which Elias ordered an employee, who lacked safety training or properprotective equipment, to clean the inside of a large tank that stored a toxic mixture ofphosphoric acid andcyanide.[9] The employee suffered severe brain damage, and Elias was convicted of "knowingly endangering the safety and health of his employees, illegally disposing of hazardous cyanide waste and making a false statement to theOccupational Safety and Health Administration."[9] In 2000, Winmill sentenced Elias to 17 years in prison, the longest-ever sentence in the United States for an environmental crime.[9][10]
InWestern Watersheds Project v. Fish and Wildlife Service (2007),[11] Winmill ordered theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to reconsider its decision not to list thesage-grouse as anendangered orthreatened species under theEndangered Species Act. In an opinion highly critical of FWS officials, Winmill singled out deputy assistant secretaryJulie A. MacDonald for criticism, and held that the agency had impermissibly disregarded scientific evidence in making its decision to deny protection to the sage-grouse.[12][13]
InAnimal Legal Defense Fund v. Otter (2015), Winmill struck down the "ag gag" law passed by theIdaho Legislature in 2012, ruling that the statute—which, among other things, banned the audio or visual recording of agricultural operations—violated theFree Speech Clause of theFirst Amendment to the United States Constitution. In January 2018, theU.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld most of the ruling.[14][15][16]
InEdmo v. Idaho Department of Correction (2018), Winmill ruled in favor of atransgender inmate diagnosed withgender dysphoria, who challenged the state's refusal to providegender confirmation surgery. Winmill ruled that the state's disregard of the "generally accepted medical standards for the treatment of gender dysphoria" constituteddeliberate indifference to the inmate's medical needs, in violation of theEighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[17][18]
Winmill is married; he and his wife Judy have four children and fourteen grandchildren.[1]
He has served as a member of the board of the Idaho Humanities Council; as a member of the Board of Visitors ofBrigham Young University'sJ. Reuben Clark Law School; and as a co-founder of the Idaho Legal History Society, which sponsored the performance of an original play marking the hundredth anniversary of the high-profile trial ofBig Bill Haywood.[1]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Idaho 1995–2021 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of Idaho 1999–2019 | Succeeded by |