William Albert Norris

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit circuit Retired 1997 · served 1980–1997 Appointed by Jimmy Carter (Democratic) 29 signed orders read

Judge Norris no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

How Judge Norris decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Calculates employment-discrimination filing periods from the agency action the governing regulations required, rather than from a later date selected by the district court.

“We conclude, therefore, that the state deferral period must be deemed to have begun on September 10, 1975, the date on which the EEOC was bound by its regulations to refer the charge to the ACRD.”

Rejects waiver where an earlier appeal concerned a materially different reimbursement order.

“We reject the Secretary’s argument that the trustees are estopped from appealing the injunction prohibiting union reimbursement for their ERISA liabilities because of the trustees’ failure to appeal a prior order prohibiting union reimbursement for their legal fees in defending the action.”

Procedural preferences

Treats the collateral-order exception as narrow and postpones review of ordinary transfer questions until final judgment.

“a Rule 20 retransfer does not fall within the collateral order exception to the final judgment rule.”

Enforces the boundaries of an appellate remand and declines to consider objections outside that mandate.

“the supervisory taint objection could not have been within the scope of our remand order, and we have no jurisdiction to consider the objection as raised in this enforcement proceeding.”

Cautions

Requires a new parole hearing when the statutory procedures were not followed.

“We grant the writ and remand for a new hearing in compliance with the procedural requirements of the Act.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Sidoran v. Commissioner
· 1981-02-19
Appeal (taxpayer-appellants) Denied

“AFFIRMED.”

Seattle Totems Hockey Club, Inc. v. National Hockey League
· 1981-08-03
Appeal (hockey-club-appellants) Denied

“AFFIRMED.”

Roberts v. Arizona Board of Regents
· 1981-11-16
Appeal (employee-appellant) Granted in part

“We AFFIRM in part and REVERSE in part, and REMAND the case to the district court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.”

Joint Council of Teamsters No. 42 v. National Labor Relations Board
· 1981-12-21
Petition for review (union-petitioners) Denied

“The order of the Board is ENFORCED.”

Bhakta v. Immigration and Naturalization Service
· 1982-01-21
Petition for review (noncitizen-petitioners) Granted

“REVERSED and REMANDED.”

In re Petition for Naturalization of Mendoza
· 1982-04-02
Appeal (government-appellant) Denied

“The judgment is AFFIRMED.”

Gentry v. MacDougall
· 1982-08-24
Appeal (state-prisoner-appellant) Denied

“Accordingly, we AFFIRM.”

Cox v. Hellerstein
· 1982-08-27
Appeal (criminal-defendant-appellant) Denied

“AFFIRMED.”

Briggs v. Commissioner
· 1982-12-10
Appeal (taxpayer-appellants) Denied

“AFFIRMED.”

Miofsky v. Superior Court of California
· 1983-01-03
Appeal (physician-plaintiff-appellant) Granted

“The judgment below is VACATED, and the cause is REMANDED for proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Lopez-Mendoza v. Immigration and Naturalization Service
· 1983-04-25
Petition for review (noncitizen-petitioners) Granted

“We VACATE Lopez’s order of deportation and REMAND his case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Little v. United States
· 1983-05-16
Appeal (property-claimant-appellant) Granted

“REVERSED.”

A historical record

Judge Norris no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.