William Fletcher
| William Fletcher | |
| Current Court Information: | |
| United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | |
| Title: | Judge |
| Station: | San Francisco, CA |
| Service: | |
| Appointed by: | Bill Clinton |
| Active: | 10/9/1998 - Present |
| Preceded by: | William Albert Norris |
| Personal History | |
| Born: | 1945 |
| Home State: | Philadelphia, PA |
| Bachelors: | Harvard University 1968 |
| Law School: | Yale Law School 1975 |
| Grad. School: | Oxford University 1970 |
Contents |
William A. Fletcher is a federal judge with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. He joined the court in 1998 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton.
Early life and education
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fletcher received a B.A. from Harvard University in 1968 and another from Merton College, Oxford University in 1970 as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his law degree from Yale Law School in 1975. Fletcher served as a U.S. Navy Lieutenant from 1970 to 1972.[1]
Professional career
Fletcher began his legal career first as a Law clerk for former federal judge Stanley Weigel in the Northern District of California from 1975 to 1976, and then for Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, William Brennan in the Supreme Court of the United States from 1976 to 1977. Fletcher served as Professor of Law at Cal-Berkeley Law from 1977 to 1998.[1]
Judicial career
On the recommendation of U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstien and Barbara Boxer, Fletcher was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Bill Clinton on January 7, 1997, to a seat vacated by William Albert Norris. Fletcher was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 8, 1998 on a Senate vote and received commission on October 9, 1998. [2].
Notable cases
MediCal case
The notable case section on this page needs to be reformatted.
CLICK HERE for the official opinion of the Ninth Circuit.
Judge Fletcher was part of a three judge panel that delivered a unanimous, majority opinion in a lawsuit involving the withholding of retroactive reimbursement payments involving providers of Medi-Cal. The three judge panel led by Judge Milan Smith writing the opinion along with judges Stephen Reinhardt and William Fletcher ruled to uphold an injunction against cuts in reimbursements to Medi-Cal providers. The judges ruled that California's budget crisis does not justify legislation passed last year to reduce the payments by 10%.[3]
The court ruled that California cannot withhold $1.1 billion a year in payments to doctors, dentists, pharmacists and other health care providers. Medi-Cal is the state's Medicaid program [3]. The lawsuit came in response to a bill passed by the California Legislature in 2008 which reduced compensation to providers of Medi-Cal by 10%. The move by the California Legislature withheld $1.1 billion in reimbursements to providers.[3] However, the state is facing a major budget crisis that has forced many state programs like Medi-Cal to make deep budget cuts.[3]
The opinion written by the three-judge panel stated that driving away more providers from the shrinking ranks, but allowing the system to still take state patients endangers their ability to get treatment[3].
The original lawsuit came in 2008 when health care providers who represent seven million California citizens who are on Medi-Cal sued the California Department of Health Care Services after the law took effect July 1, 2008.[3]
Central District of California federal judge Christina Snyder ruled against the fee reductions on August 18, 2008 but also ruled that the California Constitution shielded the state from having to make retroactive payments when the law stated to cuts took place in July of 2008.[4]
As a result of the Ninth Circuit's ruling the State of California must pay providers $55.8 million dollars retroactive reimbursements that were withheld weeks before madam judge Snyder ruled the original injunction. A official for the California Department of finance told the Los Angeles Times that the ruling shouldn't affect the $26.3-billion state budget deficit on the basis that California hadn't counted on the 10% savings from the Medi-Cal reimbursement changes.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Judge Fletcher's Biography from the Federal Judicial Center
- ↑ "THOMAS" William Fletcher USCA, 9th Cir. confirmation: PN7-105
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 "LA Times" Payments to Medi-Cal providers will not be cut, federal court rules, July 10, 2009
- ↑ "San Francisco Chronicle" State can't cut Medi-Cal fees, court rules, July 10, 2009
| Federal judicial offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: William Albert Norris |
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 1998–Present |
Succeeded by: NA |
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| 1993 |
Adams • Ambrose • Barnes • Brinkema • Bucklew • Chasanow • Coffman • Daughtrey • Ferguson • Ginsburg • Hagen • Jackson • Lancaster • Leval • Lindsay • Messitte • Michael • Piersol • Saris • Schwartz • Seybert • Shanahan • Shaw • Stearns • Trager • Vazquez • Wilken • Wilson | ||
| 1994 |
Baer • Barkett • Batts • Beaty • Benavides • Bennett • Berrigan • Biery • Block • Borman • Breyer • Briones • Bryson • Bucklo • Burgess • Burrage • Cabranes • Calabresi • Carr • Casellas • Castillo • Chatigny • Chin • Cindrich • Coar • Collins • Cooper • Cote • Currie • Davis • Dominguez • Downes • Duval • Friedman • Furgeson • Garcia • Gertner • Gettleman • Gillmor • Gilmore • Gleeson • Haggerty • Hamilton • Hannah • Hawkins • Henry • Holmes • Hood • Hull • Hurley • Jack • Jones • Jones • Kaplan • Katz • Kern • Kessler • Koeltl • Lisi • Manning • McKee • McLaughlin • Melancon • Miles-LaGrange • Moore • Motz • Murphy • O'Malley • O'Meara • Oliver • Paez • B. Parker • F. Parker • R. Parker • Perry • Ponsor • Pooler • Porteous • Rendell • Riley • Robertson • Rogers • Ross • Russell • Sands • Sarokin • Scheindlin • Silver • Squatrito • Stewart • Sullivan • Tatel • Thompson • Timlin • Urbina • Vanaskie • Vance • Walls • Wells • Williams | ||
| 1995 |
Arterton • Atlas • Black • Blake • Briscoe • Tena Campbell • Todd Campbell • Chesney • Cole • Collier • Daniel • Davis • Dennis • Dlott • Donald • Duffy • Economus • Evans • Fallon • Folsom • Gaughan • Goodwin • Heartfield • Hunt • Illston • Jones • King • Kornmann • Lawson • Lenard • Lucero • Lynch • McKinley • Moody • Moore • Moskowitz • Murphy • Murtha • Nugent • O'Toole • Orlofsky • Pogue • Sessions • C. Smith • O. Smith • Stein • Thornburg • Tunheim • Wallach • Wardlaw • Webber • Whaley • Winmill • Wood | ||
| 1996 |
Broadwater • Clevert • Fenner • Gershon • Gottschall • Greenaway • Hinkle • Jones • Kahn • Laughrey • Lemmon • Marten • Miller • Molloy • Montgomery • Pregerson • Rakoff • Sargus • Tashima • Thomas • Zapata | ||
| 1997 |
Adelman • Bataillon • Breyer • Caputo • Casey • Chambers • Clay • Damrell • Droney • Friedman • Gajarsa • Garland • Gilman • Gold • Gwin • Hall • Hayden • Hull • Ishii • Jenkins • Kauffman • Kennedy • Kimball • Kollar-Kotelly • Lazzara • Marbley • Marcus • Middlebrooks • Miller • Moon • Pratt • Rendell • Sippel • Siragusa • Snyder • Thrash | ||
| 1998 |
Aiken • Barbier • Barzilay • Berman • Buttram • Carter • Collins • Dawson • Dimitrouleas • Fletcher • Fogel • Frank • Graber • Hellerstein • Herndon • James • Johnson • Kane • Kelly • G. King • R. King • Lasnik • Lee • Lemelle • Lindsay • Lipez • Manella • Matz • McCuskey • McKeown • McMahon • Mickle • Mollway • Mordue • Moreno • Morrow • Munley • Murphy • Pallmeyer • Pauley • Polster • Pooler • Rawlinson • Ridgway • R. Roberts • V. Roberts • Sack • Scott • Seitz • Seymour • Shea • Silverman • Sleet • Sotomayor • Steeh • Story • Straub • Tagle • Tarnow • Trauger • Traxler • Tyson • Wardlaw • Whelan • Young | ||
| 1999 |
Alsup • Barry • Brown • Buchwald • Cooper • Eaton • Ellison • Feess • Fisher • Gould • Guzman • Haynes • Hibbler • Hochberg • Hurd • Huvelle • Jordan • Katzmann • Kennelly • Linn • Lorenz • Lynn • Marrero • Murguia • Pannell • Pechman • Pepper • Phillips • Schreier • Stewart • Underhill • Ward • Williams • Wilson | ||
| 2000 |
Ambro • Antoon • Battani • Berzon • Bolton • Brady • Bye • Cavanaugh • Daniels • Darrah • Dawson • Dyk • Fuentes • Garaufis • Garcia-Gregory • Gregory • Hamilton • Huck • Hunt • Lawson • Lefkow • Lynch • Martin • McLaughlin • Moody • Murguia • Paez • Pisano • Presnell • Rawlinson • Reagan • Schiller • Singal • Steele • Surrick • Swain • Tallman • Teilborg • Tucker • Whittemore | ||
