William G. Young (Massachusetts)
This article is about William G. Young, the federal judge. If you are looking for information on the Ohio Twelfth District Court of Appeals judge, please see William W. Young.
2021 - Present
3
William G. Young (b. 1940) is a federal judge on senior status with the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He joined the court in 1985 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan (R). At the time of appointment, Young served as an associate justice for the Superior Court of Massachusetts.[1]
Young assumed senior status on July 1, 2021.[2]
Education
A native of New York State, Young graduated from Harvard University with his bachelor's degree in 1962 and with his law degree in 1967. Young also served as a US Army Captain from 1962 to 1964.[1]
Professional career
Young started his legal career as a law clerk for former State Chief Justice Raymond Wilkins of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1967 to 1968. Young also spent four years as a private practice attorney licensed in the State of Massachusetts from 1968 to 1972. Also for two years, Young also served as a part-time special assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1970 to 1972. From 1972 to 1974, Young served as the chief counsel to Francis Sargent the former Governor of Massachusetts from 1972 to 1974. In 1974, Young resumed private practice work in the State of Massachusetts until 1978 when Young was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis as associate justice for the Superior Court of Massachusetts from 1978 to 1985 when he was appointed to the Federal bench. Also, Young served as a lecturer in law for the Boston College Law School since 1968 and for the Boston University Law School since 1979. Young also served at his alma mater Harvard Law School from 1979 to 1990.[1]
Judicial career
District of Massachusetts
Young was nominated by President Ronald Reagan (R) on March 8, 1985, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. Young was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 3, 1985, on a voice vote and received commission on April 4, 1985. Young served as the chief judge of the court from 1999 to 2005.[1]
Young assumed senior status on July 1, 2021.[2]
Noteworthy cases
Boston hybrid taxis (2009)
- See also: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (Ophir v. City Of Boston, Civil Action No. 09-10467-WGY)
- See also: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (Ophir v. City Of Boston, Civil Action No. 09-10467-WGY)
On December 11, 2009, Judge Young ruled in favor of the Boston Taxi Owners Association who sued the City of Boston over a new policy requiring taxi owners to switch to hybrids by 2015.
The taxi owners sued on claims that they were bullied by the Boston Police's Hackney Carriage unit to buy the new hybrids. The judge found in his ruling that the new rules instituted by the Boston Police were in violation of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975.[3]
Young upholds Massachusetts law prohibiting assault weapons
- See also: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts ([Url to link Worman v. Healy])
- See also: United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts ([Url to link Worman v. Healy])
On April 5, 2018, Judge Young issued a ruling that upheld a Massachusetts law prohibiting the possession and transfer of assault weapons. He concluded that the law did not infringe on Second Amendment rights. He cited the United States Supreme Court's 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. In Heller, authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, the court ruled that while the Second Amendment barred prohibitions on handguns, "weapons that are most useful in military service -- M-16 rifles and the like [--] are not protected under the Second Amendment and may be banned."[4][5] Young wrote, "The undisputed facts in this record convincingly demonstrate that the AR-15 and LCMs banned by the Act are 'weapons most useful in military service.'" Based on Heller, Young ruled, "As a matter of law, these weapons...fall outside the scope of the Second Amendment and may be banned."[4]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Federal Judicial Center, "Young, William G.," accessed July 13, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Law360, "Mass. Federal Judge Is Latest To Take Senior Status," March 10, 2021
- ↑ "Boston Globe" Judge clarifies ruling saying Boston can’t force hybrid taxi switch, December 11, 2009
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, "Worman v. Healy Opinion," April 5, 2018
- ↑ Internal quotations omitted.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: NA - new seat |
District of Massachusetts 1985–2021 Seat #11 |
Succeeded by: TBD
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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 | ||
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State of Massachusetts Boston (capital) |
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