William Curtis Bryson (born August 19, 1945) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He also served a 7-year term as a judge on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, until 2018, and on September 1, 2013, became the presiding judge of that court.
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 39/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 821/year
Federal Circuit Court of Appeals · 1994–2013Federal Circuit Clerk/Executive · 1994–
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
U.S. Department of JusticeDeputy solicitor general · 1986–1994- U.S. Department of JusticeDeputy associate attorney general (acting associate attorney general) · 1994
- Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of JusticeSpecial counsel · 1982–1986
- Appellate Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of JusticeChief · 1979–1982
- U.S. Department of JusticeAssistant to the solicitor general · 1978–1979
- Private practice, Washington, D.C.1975–1978
Law clerk , Hon. Thurgood Marshall · 1974–1975
Law clerk , Hon. Henry J. Friendly · 1973–1974
Appointments
- 1994–2013
1994–2013 · Appointed by William J. Clinton (Democratic)
Education
J.D. · 1973- Harvard UniversityA.B. · 1969