Stephen F. Williams facts for kids

Stephen Fain Williams (born September 23, 1936 – died August 7, 2020) was an important judge in the United States. He served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. This is a very high court that helps decide important legal cases. He passed away due to problems from COVID-19.

Early Life & Education

Stephen Williams was born in New York City. His father, C. Dickerman Williams, was also a well-known lawyer. Stephen went to Yale University and graduated in 1958 with high honors. He then studied law at Harvard Law School, finishing in 1961, also with high honors.

After law school, he served in the United States Army Reserve for a year. He worked as a private lawyer from 1962 to 1966. Then, he became an Assistant United States Attorney in New York. This job meant he helped the government with legal cases.

From 1969 until he became a judge, Stephen Williams taught law. He was a professor at the University of Colorado School of Law. He also taught as a visiting professor at other universities. These included UCLA, University of Chicago Law School, and Southern Methodist University. He also advised government groups like the Federal Trade Commission.

Becoming a Federal Judge

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan chose Stephen Williams to be a judge. He was nominated for a position on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The United States Senate approved his nomination. He officially became a judge on June 16, 1986.

He served as a judge for many years. In 2001, he took on a "senior status" role. This means he continued to work but with a reduced caseload.

One notable case he was involved in was in 2017. He questioned whether the government should keep all prisoner court documents secret. This happened when the court decided the public could not see a secret video. The video showed a prisoner being force-fed during a hunger strike.

Stephen Williams' Books & Writings

Stephen Williams was also a writer. He wrote many books and articles about law and other topics. One of his books was called Liberal Reform in an Illiberal Regime, 1906–1915: The Creation of Private Property in Russia. A former Prime Minister of Russia, Yegor Gaidar, called it "absolutely splendid."

Here are some of his other works:

• The Reformer: How One Liberal Fought to Preempt the Russian Revolution, 2017
• The Natural Gas Revolution of 1985, 1985
• Cases on Oil and Gas Law (with others), 6th ed., 1992
• Subjectivity, Expression & Privacy: Problems of Aesthetic Regulation, 1977
• Running Out: The Problem of Exhaustible Resources, 1978
• Solar 'Access' and Property Rights: A Maverick Analysis, 1979
• Implied Covenants for Development and Exploration in Oil and Gas Leases - The Determination of Profitability, 1979
• The Static Conception of the Common Law: A Comment, 1980
• Getting Downtown - Relief of Highway Congestion Through Pricing, 1981
• Implied Covenants in Oil and Gas Leases: Some General Principles, 1981
• An Energy Policy Perspective on Solar Hot Water Equipment Mandates, 1981
• 'Liberty' In the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments: The Intentions of the Framers, 1981
• Severance Taxes: The Supreme Court's Role in Preserving a National Common Market for Energy Supplies, 1982
• Liberty and Property: The Problem of Government Benefits, 1983
• The Requirement of Beneficial Use as a Cause of Waste in Water Resource Development, 1983
• Energy Policy in the Cold Light of Morning, 1983
• Free Trade in Water Resources: Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas, 1984
• Implied Covenants' Threat to the Value of Oil and Gas Reserves, 1985
• Federal Preemption of State Conservation Laws After the Natural Gas Policy Act: A Preliminary Look, 1985
• The Proposed Sea-Change in Natural Gas Regulation, 1985
• The Law of Prior Appropriation: Possible Lessons for Hawaii, 1985
• The Legal Integration of Energy Markets (with Terence Daintith), 1987
• Second Best: The Soft Underbelly of Deterrence Theory in Tort, 1993
• Hybrid Rulemaking, Under the Administrative Procedure Act: A Legal and Empirical Analysis, 1975
• Panel: Culpability, Restitution, and the Environment: The Vitality of Common Law Rules, 1994
• Unconstitutional Conditions Through a Libertarian Prism, 1994
• Legal Versus Non-Legal Theory, 1997
• Court-Gazing: Reviews of David C. Savage, Turning Right: The Making of the REhnquist Supreme Court, and H.W. Perry, Jr., Deciding to Decide: Agenda Setting in the United States Supreme Court, 1993
• The Roots of Deference (Review of Christopher F. Edley, Jr., Administrative Law: Rethinking Judicial Control of Bureaucracy), 1991
• Background Norms in the Regulatory State, (Review of Cass R. Sunstein, After the Rights Revolution: Reconceiving the Regulatory State), 1991
• Fingers in the Pie (Review of Jeremy Rabkin, Judicial Compulsions: How Public Law Distorts Public Policy), 1990
• Review of Morton Horwitz, The Transformation of American Law, 1978
• Review of Richard A. Posner, Economic Analysis of Law, 1974
• Fixing the Rate of Return After Duquesne, 1991
• Pollution Control: Taxes v. Regulation, 1979
• Optimizing Water Use: The Return Flow Issue, 1973
• Risk Regulation and Its hazards: Review of Stephen Breyer, Breaking the Vicious Circle, 1995
• Deregulatory Takings and Breach of the Regulatory Contract: A Comment, 1996

His Passing

In May 2020, Stephen Williams became sick with COVID-19. He was admitted to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C.. He stayed in the hospital for about two months. Sadly, he passed away on August 7, 2020, due to complications from the virus.