Roger Vinson


Clyde Roger Vinson is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Until May 3, 2013, he was also a member of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Education and career

Born in Cadiz, Kentucky, Vinson attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. He served at Naval Air Station Pensacola as a naval aviator from 1962 to 1968, attaining the rank of lieutenant. After his service, he attended Vanderbilt University Law School and received his Juris Doctor in 1971. Returning to Pensacola, Florida, Vinson joined the law firm of Beggs & Lane, where he practiced general civil law from 1971 to 1983.

Federal judicial service

Vinson was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1983, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida vacated by Judge Lynn Carlton Higby. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 4, 1983, and received his commission on October 5, 1983. He served as Chief Judge from 1997 to 2004. He assumed senior status on March 31, 2005.
Vinson was appointed to serve a seven-year term on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, effective May 4, 2006. As a member of the FISA court, Vinson issued a top secret court order on April 25, 2013 requiring Verizon's Business Network Services to provide metadata on all calls in its system to the National Security Agency "on an ongoing daily basis".

Notable cases

In 2010, Vinson was assigned to hear a case, Florida et al v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, brought by a group of 26 states that was filed with support by 22 attorneys general and four governors challenging the constitutionality of the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, specifically its requirement that most individuals obtain medical insurance. The suit is the second of more than 15 lawsuits filed against the act that has advanced to this stage of litigation.
On January 31, 2011, Vinson ruled that the individual mandate provision of the PPACA violated the Constitution by regulating economic inactivity, and as the mandate is not severable the entire statute was ruled unconstitutional. Vinson allowed the law to stand while it was being appealed by the Obama administration. Vinson later issued a stay to his January ruling, allowing implementation to proceed while its constitutionality was weighed.

Sentencing philosophy

Vinson is noted for being a hardline judge who refuses to depart from maximum sentences in spite of their severity, even though he agrees his very own sentences are far too high. In his own words: "The punishment is supposed to fit the crime, but when a legislative body says this is going to be the sentence no matter what other factors there are, that's draconian in every sense of the word. Mandatory sentences breed injustice."

Personal life

In 2009, Vinson was installed as president of the American Camellia Society.