William Holcombe Pryor Jr. (born 1962) is an American lawyer who has served as the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit since 2020. He was appointed as a United States circuit judge of the court by President George W. Bush in 2004. He is a former commissioner of the United States Sentencing Commission. Previously, he was the attorney general of Alabama, from 1997 to 2004.
William Holcombe Pryor Jr.
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Born 1962 in Mobile, AL
FJC ID: 3050
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 22/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 533/year
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals · 2005–
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
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 2020–present
- State of AlabamaAttorney general · 1997–2004
State of AlabamaDeputy attorney general · 1995–1997- Private practice, Alabama1988–1995
- Samford University, Cumberland School of LawAdjunct professor · 1989–1995
Law clerk , Hon. John Minor Wisdom · 1987–1988
Appointments
2005–present · Appointed by George W. Bush (Republican)
Education
J.D. · 1987- Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana at Monroe)B.A. · 1984