Billy J. Williams | |
---|---|
United States Attorney for the District of Oregon | |
In office December 18, 2015 –February 28, 2021 | |
President | |
Preceded by | Amanda Marshall |
Succeeded by | Natalie K. Wight |
Personal details | |
Born | 1956 (age 66–67) Toppenish, Washington, U.S. |
Alma mater | Washington State University (AB) Willamette University (JD) |
Billy John Williams (born 1956) [1] is an American attorney who served as the United States attorney for the District of Oregon from 2015 to 2021. He was most recently confirmed to the position by the U.S. Senate in March 2018. Williams was originally named Acting U.S. Attorney of the district in April 2015 and was appointed to the position by Chief U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman in February 2016. [2] In November 2017, Williams was nominated by President Donald Trump to retain the position. [3] His nomination was supported by Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, Oregon's U.S. Senators. [4]
Williams received a Bachelor of Arts in 1981 from Washington State University and his Juris Doctor in 1989 at the Willamette University College of Law. [5] [6] Before entering federal service, he was a Deputy District Attorney in Multnomah County, Oregon. [6]
In 2017, he wrote an opinion piece in The Oregonian stating that "Oregon's sanctuary status declaration directly contravenes federal immigration law and threatens public safety". [7] [8]
In February 2018, Williams convened a federal law enforcement summit in Portland at which he stated Oregon has a "formidable marijuana overproduction and diversion problem". [9] Oregon's Governor Kate Brown said that Williams told her "lawful Oregon businesses remain stakeholders in this conversation and not targets of law enforcement." [9] That and other comments were taken as "reassurances for rule-following Oregon [cannabis] businesses" in the wake of the January 2018 rescission of the Cole Memorandum. [10]
In August 2020, he announced that 74 people would be charged "for crimes committed adjacent to or under the guise of peaceful demonstrations in Portland", including for assault, destruction of federal property, failing to obey lawful orders, and disorderly conduct. [11]
On February 12, 2021, he announced his resignation, effective February 28. [12]
Edward Leavy was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and a former judge for the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. Prior to these positions, Leavy was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.
Diarmuid Fionntain O'Scannlain is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. His chambers are located in Portland, Oregon.
The Constitution Party of Oregon is a political party organized as a minor party pursuant to state election law, and recognized by the U.S. state of Oregon as a statewide nominating party.
John Richard Kroger is an American lawyer who served as the president of Reed College. He served as Attorney General for the U.S. state of Oregon from 2009 to 2012. Prior to being elected in 2008, he had earlier served in the Marine Corps, was an Assistant United States Attorney in New York, and a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland. He resigned as Attorney General effective June 29, 2012. On February 9, 2018, he announced that he would be resigning as President of Reed College come the conclusion of the academic year. After leaving Reed in June 2018, Kroger went to teach at Harvard University for the 2018–2019 academic year. On October 1, 2019, he became the first Chief Learning Officer of the United States Navy.
Otto Richard Skopil Jr. was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. The native Oregonian was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1979 to 1986. Previously, he was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon from 1972 to 1979, and was the chief judge of that court from 1976 to 1979. Of German ancestry, he was a veteran of World War II and received both his undergraduate education and law degree from Willamette University.
In 1985, a group of high-ranking Rajneeshees, followers of the Indian mystic Shree Rajneesh, conspired to assassinate Charles Turner, the then-United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. Rajneesh's personal secretary and second-in-command, Ma Anand Sheela, assembled the group after Turner was appointed to investigate illegal activity at the followers' community, Rajneeshpuram. Turner investigated charges of immigration fraud and sham marriages, and later headed the federal prosecution of the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack in The Dalles, Oregon.
Michael Wise Mosman is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. He served as Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon from February 1, 2016, to December 23, 2019. He also served a 7-year term on the FISA Court from May 4, 2013, to May 3, 2020. He previously served as the United States attorney for the same district.
Joshua K. Marquis is an attorney and politician from Astoria, Oregon in the United States. He served as District Attorney for Clatsop County from March 1994 until December 31, 2018. He frequently writes and speaks about capital punishment, and is a national advocate for the death penalty.
Karin Johanna Immergut is an American lawyer and trial judge serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.
Cannabis in Oregon is legal for both medical and recreational use. In recent decades, the U.S. state of Oregon has had a number of legislative, legal, and cultural events surrounding use of cannabis. Oregon was the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis, and among the first to authorize its use for medical purposes. An attempt to recriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis was turned down by Oregon voters in 1997.
Thomas E. Delahanty II was an American lawyer and former judge. He was the former United States Attorney for the District of Maine.
Marco Antonio Hernandez is the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.
Ellen F. Rosenblum is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Oregon Attorney General since 2012. She is the first female state attorney general in Oregon's history, and previously was a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals from 2005 to 2011.
Sally Amanda Marshall is an American lawyer in the U.S. state of Oregon. She was, most immediately, the United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, the top federal prosecutor position in the state. She resigned her position on April 24, 2015, amid an internal review, citing unspecified health issues.
The Donald Trump administration took positions against marijuana and against the easing of laws regarding marijuana. Although Trump indicated during his 2016 presidential campaign that he favored leaving the issue of legalization of marijuana to the states, his administration subsequently upheld the federal prohibition of cannabis, and Trump's 2021 fiscal budget proposal included removing protections for state medical marijuana laws. In 2018, the administration rescinded the 2013 Cole Memorandum, an Obama-era Justice Department policy that generally directed federal prosecutors not to pursue marijuana prosecutions in states where marijuana is legal as a matter of state law.
Ryan Wesley Bounds is an American attorney serving as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. Bounds had been a nominee for a position as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Joseph Owan Gibson is an American right-wing activist and the founder of the alt-right group Patriot Prayer, which is active in Portland, Oregon and other cities within the Pacific Northwest.
The Cole Memorandum was a United States Department of Justice memorandum issued August 29, 2013, by United States Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole during the presidency of Barack Obama. The memorandum, sent to all United States Attorneys, governed federal prosecution of offenses related to marijuana. The memo stated that given its limited resources, the Justice Department would not enforce federal marijuana prohibition in states that "legalized marijuana in some form and ... implemented strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems to control the cultivation, distribution, sale, and possession of marijuana," except where a lack of federal enforcement would undermine federal priorities.
Danielle Jo Forrest, formerly known as Danielle Jo Hunsaker, is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Forrest was an Oregon state court judge for the Washington County Circuit Court from 2017 to 2019.
Starting in May 2020, demonstrations over the police murder of George Floyd were held in the city of Portland, Oregon, concurrent with protests in other cities in the United States and around the world. By July 2020, many of the protests, which had been held every day since May 28, drew more than 1,000 participants. Protests continued into August, September, and October 2020, often drawing hundreds.