Clyde Roger Vinson
From Judgepedia
| Clyde Roger Vinson | |
| Current Court Information: | |
| United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida | |
| Title: | Senior Judge |
| Station: | Pensacola, FL |
| Alternative court: | United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court |
| Alternative term: | 5/04/2006 - 5/18/2013 |
| Service: | |
| Appointed by: | Ronald Reagan |
| Active: | 10/5/1983 - 3/31/2005 |
| Chief: | 1997 - 2004 |
| Senior: | 3/31/2005 - Current |
| Preceded by: | Lynn Higby |
| Succeeded by: | John Smoak |
| Personal History | |
| Born: | 1940 |
| Home State: | Cadiz, KY |
| Bachelors: | Naval Academy, B.A., 1962 |
| Law School: | Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D., 1971 |
Contents |
Clyde Roger Vinson is an Article III federal judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. He joined the court in 1983 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. Vinson is serving on senior status. Vinson also serves on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. His term runs from May 4, 2006 until May 18, 2013.[1]
Early life and education
A native of Kentucky, Vinson graduated from the Naval Academy with his Bachelor's Degree in 1962 then served six years on active duty on the US Navy as a Lieutenant from 1962 to 1968 during the Vietnam conflict before completing his juris doctorate degree at Vanderbilt University Law School in 1971.
Professional career
Vinson spent his entire pre-judicial legal career as a private practice attorney in Florida from 1971 to 1983.
Judicial career
Northern District of Florida
On the recommendation of U.S. Senator Paula Hawkins, Vinson was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1983 to a seat vacated by Lynn Higby as Higby assumed senior status. Vinson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 4, 1983 on a senate vote and received commission on October 5, 1983. Vinson served as the chief judge from 1997 to 2004 before later assuming senior status on March 31, 2005.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
Vinson also concurrently serves on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. He was appointed on May 4, 2006 and his term will end on May 18, 2013.[2]
Ruling on federal health care
On January 31, 2011, Judge Vinson ruled that the federal health care law signed into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama is unconstitutional.[3] Vincent's ruling says that the requirement in the law that Americans must purchase health insurance coverage -- the provision commonly known as the "individual mandate" -- is not within the legal bounds of what the U.S. Congress is allowed to do under the Commerce Clause. Vinson's ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed against the federal health care law the day it was signed by President Obama. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and nineteen other state attorneys general filed the original lawsuit and after the tumultuous 2010 midterm elections, six more states, among them Kansas, Maine, Ohio, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, joining in challenging the constitutionality of the federal law.
In his ruling, Vinson wrote that the case is not about "whether the Act is wise or unwise legislation, or whether it will solve or exacerbate the myriad problems in our health care system," but is instead about whether the federal health care legislation coheres with "the Constitutional role of the federal government." [4]
On the issue of the "individual mandate", a provision of the Affordable Patient Protection Act of 2009 that requires all individuals to purchase health care coverage, Vinson argued 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 that it would not be a stretch to suggest that "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 health care market," contending that if Congress asserts 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] Since "activity," Vinson's decision reads, "is required under the Commerce Clause," the "individual mandate", which punishes those who refuse to purchase health insurance, exceeds Congressional powers under the constitutional provision.
After ruling that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, Vinson's decision turned to the question of "severability", a provision of a contract that allows for the remainder of the contract to still apply even if parts of it are held to be either illegal or unenforceable. Vinson wrote that no such provision exists within the Affordable Patient Protection Act, although an earlier version of the bill did include one. Analysts have said, Vinson wrote, that since the "individual mandate" "collects most of the money that is supposed to flow into the system from millions of additional participants," the loss of this portion of the law makes its execution "severely compromised and could rock the foundation of other provisions in the legislation." [5] In comparing the health care law to a finely crafted watch, Vinson stated that there were "simply too many moving parts in the Act and too many provisions dependent (directly and indirectly) on the individual mandate" to make severability logistically possible. [4]
In conclusion, 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 declared void. [4]
External links
References
- ↑ Current Judges of the FISC
- ↑ Current Judges of the FISC
- ↑ Politico, "Florida judge rules health care law unconstitutional", January 31, 2011
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Florida v. United States Department of Health and Human Services (2011)
- ↑ FOX News "Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Virginia's Central Challenge to Health Care Law" 13 Dec. 2010
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| Active judges | |||
| Senior judges |
Maurice Paul • Clyde Roger Vinson • Lacey Collier • William Stafford • Stephan Mickle • | ||
| Magistrate judges | Charles Kahn • Gary Jones • Larry Bodiford • Gordon M. Davis • William Sherrill, Jr. • Elizabeth Timothy • | ||
| Former Article III judges |
George Young • Isaac Hopkins Bronson • McQueen McIntosh • Philip Fraser • Thomas Settle • Charles Swayne • William Bostwick Sheppard • Augustus Long • Winston Arnow • George Carswell • Curtis Waller • George Whitehurst • Lynn Higby • David Middlebrooks • | ||
| Former Chief judges |
Robert Hinkle • Maurice Paul • Clyde Roger Vinson • William Stafford • Stephan Mickle • Winston Arnow • George Carswell • | ||
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| Active judges |
Chief Judge: Jennifer Coffman • James Zagel • Susan Carter • Dennis Saylor • Mary McLaughlin • Clyde Roger Vinson • Malcolm Howard • Martin Feldman • Thomas Hogan • Reggie Walton • John Bates | ||
| Former Article III judges |
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| Former Chief judges | |||
