John Decker Butzner Jr. (October 2, 1917 – January 20, 2006) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
John Decker Butzner Jr.
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
Born 1917 in Scranton, PA
Died 2006 in Richmond, VA
FJC ID: 337
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 13/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 292/year
Virginia Eastern District Court · 1962–1967Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1967–2006
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
Board member · 1981–1983- Virginia Circuit Court, Thirty-Ninth Judicial CircuitJudge · 1960–1962
- Virginia Circuit Court, Fifteenth Judicial CircuitAssociate judge · 1958–1960
- Private practice, Fredericksburg, Virginia1941–1942, 1946–1958
Weather ServiceU.S. Air Force staff sergeant · 1942–1945
Appointments
1967–2006 · Appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic)Term ended: Death
1962–1967 · Appointed by John F. Kennedy (Democratic)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
Education
LL.B. · 1941- University of ScrantonB.A. · 1938