Clyde Roger Vinson
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2005 - Present
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Clyde Roger Vinson is a federal judge on senior status with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. He joined the court in 1983 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan.
Early life and education
A native of Cadiz, Kentucky, Vinson graduated from the United States Naval Academy with his bachelor's degree in 1962 and from Vanderbilt University Law School with his J.D. in 1971.[1]
Military service
Vinson served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1962 to 1968.[1]
Professional career
- 2005 - Present: Senior judge
- 1997-2004: Chief judge
- 1983-2005: Judge
- 1971-1983: Private practice, Pensacola, Fla.[1]
Judicial career
Northern District of Florida
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| Nominee Information |
| Name: C. Roger Vinson |
| Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 25 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: September 9, 1983
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 ABA Rating:
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| Questionnaire: |
| Hearing: September 28, 1983
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| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: September 30, 1983
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| Confirmed: October 4, 1983
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| Vote: Voice vote
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Vinson was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1983, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida vacated by Lynn Higby. Hearings on Vinson's nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 28, 1983, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) on September 30, 1983. Vinson was confirmed on a voice vote of the U.S. Senate on October 4, 1983, and he received his commission the next day. From 1997 to 2004, Vinson served as the district court's chief judge. He elected to take senior status beginning on March 31, 2005. He was succeeded in this position by John Smoak.[1][2]
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
Vinson served on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 2006 to 2013.[1]
Noteworthy cases
Ruling on Affordable Care Act (2010)
On January 31, 2011, Judge Vinson ruled that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional.[3] Vinson's ruling said that the requirement in the law that Americans must purchase health insurance coverage -- the provision commonly referred to as the individual mandate -- was in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause. Vinson's ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed against the federal healthcare law the day it was signed by President Obama. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and nineteen other state attorneys general filed the lawsuit; after the 2010 midterm elections, six more states joined the lawsuit.
Regarding the issue of the constitutionality of the individual mandate, Vinson held that it would be a "radical departure from existing case law to hold that Congress can regulate inactivity under the Commerce Clause," and that, if the federal government was given such extensive power, "Congress could do almost anything it wanted."[4] He dismissed the federal government's defense of placing the legislation within the boundaries of the Commerce Clause, arguing that the uninsured "are actively engaged in interstate commerce based on the purported 'unique' features of the much broader healthcare market," contending that if Congress asserted power that exceeds the authority granted to it by the Constitution, then it is unconstitutional, "regardless of the purported uniqueness of the context in which it is being asserted."[4]
On the question of whether the mandate could be severed, and therefore treated separately, from the remainder of the law, Vinson ruled that since "the individual mandate and the remaining provisions are all inextricably bound together in purpose and must stand or fall as a single unit," the entire law must be held unconstitutional.[4]
See also
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida
- United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Federal Judicial Center, "Biography of Judge Clyde Roger Vinson," accessed July 5, 2017
- ↑ United States Congress, "PN 452 — C. Roger Vinson — The Judiciary," accessed July 5, 2017
- ↑ Politico, "Florida judge rules healthcare law unconstitutional," January 31, 2011
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, "Florida et al. v. United States Department of Health and Human Services et al.," 2011
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Lynn Higby |
Northern District of Florida 1983–2005 Seat #3 |
Succeeded by: John Smoak
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| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Active judges |
Chief Judge: Sara LioiChief Judge: Timothy DeGiusti • George Singal • Joan Ericksen • Kenneth Karas • Anthony Trenga • Louis Guirola • John Tharp, Jr. • Amit Priyavadan Mehta | ||
| Former judges |
James Zagel • Jennifer Coffman • Thomas Russell • Dennis Saylor • Raymond Dearie • Robert Kugler • Mary McLaughlin • Claire Eagan • Anne Conway • Clyde Roger Vinson • William Stafford • Liam O'Grady • James Jones (Virginia) • Malcolm Howard • Martin Feldman • Michael Mosman • Thomas Hogan • Rosemary Collyer • Reggie Walton • John Bates • Susan Webber Wright • James E. Boasberg • Rudolph Contreras • | ||
| Former chief judges | |||
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 |
Bartlett • Beam • Becker • Bork • Cacheris • Cardamone • Chapman • Coughenour • Cox • Crow • Cyr • Doumar • Eschbach • Forrester • Garwood • Gibson • Glasser • Hall • Hamilton • Head • Jones • Kiser • Krenzler • Lee • Magnuson • McLaughlin • Miner • Moore • Nowlin • O'Connor • Pierce • Posner • Potter • Russell • Ryan • Shabaz • Sprizzo • Stevens • Waters • Wilhoit • Wilkins • Winter | ||
| 1982 |
Acker • Acosta • Altimari • Bell • Bissell • Black • Bullock • Caldwell • Coffey • Contie • Coyle • Dowd • Fagg • Fong • Fox • Gadbois • Gibson • Ginsburg • Hart • Higginbotham • Hogan • Irving • Jackson • Jolly • Kanne • Kovachevich • Krupansky • Lynch • Mansmann • McNamara • Mencer • Mentz • Mihm • Moody • Nordberg • Paul • Pieras • Plunkett • Porfilio • Potter • Pratt • Rafeedie • Restani • Roberts • Scalia • Selya • Telesca • Wellford | ||
| 1983 |
Baldock • Barbour • Barry • Bowman • Carman • Carter • Curran • Davis • Dorsey • Feldman • Fish • Flaum • Gibbons • Hallanan • Harris • Hinojosa • Hull • Hupp • Katz • Keenan • Kelly • Kram • Laffitte • Limbaugh, Sr. • Limbaugh, Sr. • Milburn • Nesbitt • Nevas • O'Neill • Rymer • Sharp • Starr • Vinson • Vukasin • Wexler • Woods | ||
| 1984 |
Barker • Beezer • Biggers • Billings • Bissell • Boyle • Brewster • Browning • DiCarlo • Duhe • Garcia • George • Hall • Hargrove • Higgins • Hill • Holland • Ideman • Jarvis • Keller • Leavy • Lee • Legge • Leisure • Little • Livaudais • Longobardi • McKibben • Milburn • Newman • Norgle • Prado • Rea • Rosenblatt • Rovner • Scirica • Smith, Jr. • Sneeden • Stotler • Suhrheinrich • Torruella • Wiggins • Wilkinson | ||
| 1985 |
Alley • Altimari • Anderson • Aquilino • Archer • Arnold • Baldock • Batchelder • Battey • Broomfield • Brown • Brown • Brunetti • Buckley • Cobb • Conmy • Cowen • Davidson • Dimmick • Duff • Easterbrook • Edgar • Farnan • Fernandez • Fitzpatrick • Fuste • Greene • Gunn • Guy • Hall • Hilton • Holderman • Hughes • Johnson • Jones • Korman • Kozinski • La Plata • Leinenweber • Letts • Lovell • Ludwig • Maloney • Mansmann • Marcus • McDonald • Meredith • Miller • Mills • Miner • Motz • Nelson • Noonan • Porfilio • Revercomb • Rhoades • Ripple • Rodriguez • Rosenbaum • Roth • Ryan • Sam • Scott • Sentelle • Silberman • Sporkin • Stanton • Stapleton • Strand • Strom • Tacha • Tevrizian • Thompson • Todd • Tsoucalas • Walker • Walter • Weber • Williams • Wilson • Wingate • Wolf • Wollman • Young • Zloch | ||
| 1986 |
Anderson • Boggs • Bryan • Cedarbaum • Cholakis • Conway • Davies • Dearie • Dubina • Duggan • Edmondson • Fawsett • Fitzwater • Gex • Graham • Hackett • Hansen • Henderson • Hittner • Howard • Jensen • Kay • Kleinfeld • Kosik • Lagueux • Lechner • Magill • Mahoney • Manion • McAvoy • McQuade • Norris • O'Scannlain • Rehnquist • Ryskamp • Scalia • Selya • Simpson • Smalkin • Spencer • Stiehl • Wilkins • Williams • Woodlock • Zatkoff | ||
| 1987 |
Alesia • Beam • Bell • Conboy • Cowen • Cummings • Daronco • Doty • Dwyer • Ebel • Ellis • Gadola • Gawthrop • Greenberg • Harrington • Howard • Hoyt • Hutchinson • Kanne • Kelly • Larimer • Leavy • Lew • Marsh • Mayer • McKinney • Michel • Mukasey • Musgrave • Niemeyer • Parker • Phillips • Politan • Pro • Raggi • Reasoner • Reed • Scirica • Sentelle • Smith • Smith • Stadtmueller • Standish • Tinder • Torres • Trott • Turner • Van Antwerpen • Voorhees • Webb • Whipple • Wolin • Wolle • Wood • Zagel | ||
| 1988 |
Arcara • Babcock • Brorby • Butler • Cambridge • Camp • Conlon • Cox • Dubois • Duhe • Ezra • Forester • Friedman • Garza • Hutton • Jordan • Kennedy • Lake • Lamberth • Lifland • Lozano • Marovich • Nygaard • Patterson • Schell • Smith • Smith • Tilley • Waldman • Zilly | ||
