William Walter "Billy" Wilkins Jr. (born March 29, 1942) is a former United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.
William Walter Wilkins
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Born 1942 in Anderson, SC
FJC ID: 2586
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 14/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 318/year
South Carolina District Court · 1981–1986Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1986–2008
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 · 2003–2007
- South Carolina National Guard colonel1983–1994
Chair · 1985–1994
U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel1969–1983
Solicitor · 1974–1981- Private practice, Greenville, South Carolina1971–1978
- U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond of South CarolinaLegal assistant · 1970–1971
Law clerk , Hon. Clement F. Haynsworth · 1969–1970- U.S. Army captain1967–1969
Appointments
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth CircuitChief Judge1986–2008 · Appointed by Ronald Reagan (Republican)Term ended: Retirement
- 1981–1986 · Appointed by Ronald Reagan (Republican)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
Education
J.D. · 1967- Davidson CollegeB.A. · 1964