U. W. Clemon
U.W. Clemon was an Article III federal judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. He joined the court in 1980 after being nominated by President Jimmy Carter. He retired on January 31, 2009.[1]
Early life and education
A native of Alabama, Clemon graduated from Miles College with his bachelor's degree in 1965 and later graduated from Columbia Law School with his J.D. degree in 1968.[1]
Professional career
Clemon spent his entire pre-judicial legal career as a private practice attorney in the State of Alabama from 1969 to 1980. Clemon was also a member of the Alabama State Senate as a Democrat from 1975 to 1980.[1]
Judicial career
Northern District of Alabama
Clemon was nominated to the Northern District of Alabama by President Jimmy Carter on January 10, 1980 to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629 which was approved by Congress. Clemon was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 26, 1980 on a Senate vote and received commission on June 30, 1980. Clemon served as the chief judge of the court from 1999 to 2006. He retired in 2009.[1] Clemon was succeeded in this position by Abdul Kallon.
Noteworthy cases
Judges go to court over salaries (2009)
- See also: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Peter H. Beer, et al., v. United States, 09-CV-037)
- See also: United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Peter H. Beer, et al., v. United States, 09-CV-037)
Judge Clemon was one of six judges who sued the government on a claim that Congress violated the Constitution's compensation clause and the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 by failing to honor promised judicial salary increases in five separate years. Earlier reports of the case indicated Judges Thomas Hogan and James Robertson were part of the suit, though they were not named parties in the final opinions and orders.[2]
The Ethics Reform Act requires automatic adjustment of judicial salaries every year based on the Employment Cost Index--which measures inflation of wages and benefits--unless severe economic conditions make the raise inappropriate. The U.S. Congress claimed its withholding of salary adjustments for federal judges were due to a lack of funds.[3]
On October 16, 2009, a federal claims court judge dismissed the lawsuit, citing the precedent Williams v. United States. It was held in that case that Congress could decide not to grant the cost of living adjustments so long as they did so in the fiscal year prior to that in which the increase would be payable. The judges expected and acknowledged the decision based on the precedent, but said that their hope was to overturn the Williams decision, and planned an immediate appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.[2]
On October 5, 2012, the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of the judges, overturning the 11-year old Williams precedent, and finding that Congress' withholding of the cost-of-living salary raises were illegal. The en banc opinion was written by Judge Randall Rader, who quoted Alexander Hamilton, saying, "next to permanency in office, nothing can contribute more to the independence of the judges than a fixed provision for their support."[3] The judges commented that members of their profession should not have to fear that their livelihood will be subject to reprisals from other branches of government, and that as the "weakest of the three branches of government," the judiciary "must...not place its will within the reach of political whim".[3]
The panel decided that "all sitting federal judges are entitled to expect that their real salary will not diminish due to inflation or the action or inaction of the other branches of government," and ordered the Court of Federal Claims to calculate the judges' damages and additional compensation they were entitled to.[3]
Judges Timothy Dyk and William Bryson dissented. They wrote that although the decision seemed just in consideration "to the nation's underpaid Article III judges," the overturning of the Supreme Court's clear interpretation of the law in Williams, as well as a previous refusal to re-hear the issue by the highest court, indicates that the majority overstepped its authority.[3]
In June of 2013, the judge Eric G. Bruggink ruled that each of the judges could recover about $150,000 of back-pay from the government. He also ordered the government to pay interest on the pre-tax amount of the judgment.[4]
- The other plaintiffs were Judges: Peter Beer, Wallace Tashima, Terry Hatter, Laurence Silberman, and Richard Paez.
- Judge Bruggink's opinion on remand and order directing back pay may be found here.
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Judge Clemon's Profile from the Federal Judicial Center
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Christian Science Monitor, "Federal judges pursue judicial pay dispute in appeals court," November 3, 2009
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Courthouse News Service, "Congress shouldn't have denied raises to judges," October 12, 2012
- ↑ Courthouse News Service, "Back pay set for federal judges denied raises," June 21, 2013
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: NA-New Seat |
Northern District of Alabama 1980–2009 Seat #7 |
Succeeded by: Abdul Kallon
|
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 |
Ballantine • Bownes • Boyle • Bua • Carr • Clark • Cowan • Daly • Filippine • Higginbotham • Hoeveler • Hug • Johnstone • Kane • Keith • Leval • Logan • MacLaughlin • McKay • Melton • Merritt • Murphy • Nickerson • Oberdorfer • Roszkowski • Roy • Rubin • Sifton • Tang • Vance • Veron | ||
| 1978 |
Arnold • Baker • Boyle • Burns • Campos • Claiborne • Collins • Cook • Devine • Diamond • Duplantier • Edenfield • Friedman • Gonzalez • Greene • Jenkins • Lowe • Mazzone • McMillian • O'Brien • Pfaelzer • Phillips • Pollak • Sand • Shapiro • Simmons • Smith • Sweet • Tanner • Wiseman • Ziegler | ||
| 1979 |
Ackerman • Alarcon • Anderson • Arceneaux • Arnold • Aspen • Beatty • Beer • Belew • Bertelsman • Bilby • N. Black • S. Black • Bloch • Bowen • Brett • Brooks • Brown • Buchmeyer • Bunton • Burciaga • Cabranes • Carr • Carrigan • Castagna • Cire • Clark • Cohn • Conaboy • Cordova • Crabb • Cudahy • Davis • DeAnda • Debevoise • Edwards • Eginton • Ellison • Enslen • O. Evans • T. Evans • Farris • Ferguson • Fletcher • Frye • Garcia • Garza • B. Gibson • H. Gibson • Gierbolini-Ortiz • Giles • Gilliam • Green • Hall • Hastings • Hatchett • Hatfield • Hatter • Hawkins • Henderson • Higby • Hillman • Houck • Howard • Hudspeth • Hungate • F. Johnson • S. Johnson • N. Jones • S. Jones • Karlton • Kazen • Kearse • Keeton • Kehoe • Kennedy • Kidd • King • Kravitch • Loughlin • Martin • McCurn • McDonald • McNaught • McNichols • Mikva • Mitchell • Moran • Murnaghan • Murphy • D. Nelson • D.W. Nelson • Newblatt • Newman • Overton • Paine • Panner • J. Parker • R. Parker • Penn • Perez-Gimenez • Perry • Politz • Poole • Porter • Pregerson • Price • Rambo • Ramirez • Reavley • Redden • E. Reed • S. Reed • Reinhardt • Renner • Robinson • Rothstein • Sachs • Saffels • Sanders • Sarokin • Schroeder • Schwartz • Seay • Senter • Seymour • Shannon • Shaw • Shoob • Skopil • Sloviter • Sofaer • Spellman • Sprouse • Staker • Tate • Taylor • Thompson • Tidwell • Unthank • Vietor • Vining • Wald • Ward • Weinshienk • West • Wicker • Williams • Winder • Woods • Wright • Zobel | ||
| 1980 |
Aguilar • Aldrich • Anderson • Boochever • Breyer • Britt • Cahill • Canby • Carroll • Cerezo • Clemon • S. Ervin • R. Erwin • Getzendanner • Gilmore • Ginsburg • Haltom • Hardy • Henderson • Hobbs • Holschuh • Horton • Howard • Johnson • Keep • Kelly • Kenyon • Kocoras • Marquez • Marshall • Michael • Nixon • Norris • Patel • Polozola • Propst • Quackenbush • Ramsey • Rice • Shadur • Spiegel • Tashima • Thompson • Vela • White • Williams | ||
| 1981 | |||
Federal courts:
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Alabama, Middle District of Alabama, Southern District of Alabama • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Alabama, Middle District of Alabama, Southern District of Alabama
State courts:
Alabama Supreme Court • Alabama Court of Civil Appeals • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals • Alabama Circuit Courts • Alabama District Courts • Alabama Juvenile Courts • Alabama Municipal Courts • Alabama Probate Courts • Alabama Small Claims Courts
State resources:
Courts in Alabama • Alabama judicial elections • Judicial selection in Alabama