James Spencer (Virginia)
James Randolph Spencer was a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He first joined the court in 1986 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan and served as a senior federal judge from 2014 until his retirement in 2017. Spencer was the chief judge of the court from 2004 to 2011.[1]
Early life and education
A native of Florence, South Carolina, Spencer graduated from Clark College with his bachelor's degree in 1971, from Harvard Law School with his J.D. in 1974, and from Howard University with a master's in divinity in 1985.[1]
Military service
Spencer served as a captain in the U.S. Army judge advocate general corps from 1975 to 1978.[1]
Professional career
- 2014-2017: Senior judge
- 2004-2011: Chief judge
- 1986-2014: Judge
- 1983-1986: Assistant U.S. attorney, Eastern District of Virginia
- 1981-1986: Reserve military judge, U.S. Army
- 1978-1983: Assistant U.S. attorney, District of Columbia
Judicial nominations and appointments
Eastern District of Virginia
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| Nominee Information |
| Name: James R. Spencer |
| Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 29 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: September 9, 1986
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 ABA Rating:
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| Questionnaire: |
| Hearing: October 1, 1986
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| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: October 2, 1986
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| Confirmed: October 8, 1986
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| Vote: Voice vote
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Spencer was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1986, to a seat vacated by John MacKenzie. Hearings on Spencer's nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 1, 1986, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) on October 2, 1986. Spencer was confirmed on a voice vote of the U.S. Senate on October 8, 1986, and he received his commission on October 14, 1986. Spencer served as chief judge of the district court from 2004 to 2011. He elected to take senior status beginning on March 25, 2014, and he served as a senior federal judge until his retirement from judicial service on June 2, 2017. He was succeeded in this position by Judge Hannah Lauck.[1][2]
Noteworthy cases
Dismissal of Affordable Care Act subsidies case (2014)
- See also: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (King, et al v. Sebelius, et al, 3:i3-CV-630)
- See also: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (King, et al v. Sebelius, et al, 3:i3-CV-630)
On February 18, 2014, Judge Spencer dismissed a suit which alleged that Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies should be granted only to residents living in a state running its own insurance exchange under the law. In the underlying case, four Virginia residents filed suit because their state health insurance subsidy would force them to accept the law's individual mandate to carry health insurance. In the absence of the subsidy, they would qualify for a financial-hardship exemption from the mandate due to the expense of the cheapest available insurance plan.[3] In his opinion dismissing the suit, Judge Spencer wrote:
| “ | While on the surface, Plaintiffs’ plain meaning interpretation of [the relevant section of the law] has a certain common sense appeal, the lack of any support in the legislative history of the ACA indicates that it is not a viable theory.[3][4] | ” |
See also
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Federal Judicial Center, "Biography of Judge James Randolph Spencer," accessed June 2, 2017
- ↑ United States Congress, "PN 1334 — James R. Spencer — The Judiciary," accessed May 16, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Washington Times, "Federal judge in Va. delivers setback for legal theory about Obamacare subsidies," February 19, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: John MacKenzie |
Eastern District of Virginia 1986–2014 Seat #5 |
Succeeded by: Hannah Lauck
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|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||
Federal courts:
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Virginia • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Virginia
State courts:
Virginia Supreme Court • Virginia Court of Appeals • Virginia Circuit Courts • Virginia District Courts • Virginia Magistrates
State resources:
Courts in Virginia • Virginia judicial elections • Judicial selection in Virginia
