Quick facts
Court U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Position circuit
Status Retired 1990
Served 1984–1990
Appointed by Ronald Reagan (Republican)
Commissioned 1984-06-11
Education University of South Carolina (B.S., 1956); University of South Carolina School of Law (LL.B., 1958)
Signed orders read 25
Last updated 2026-07-20
Motion outcomes
Petition for reviewN = 14
counts only
8 5 1
AppealN = 11
counts only
5 6
Counted from classified signed orders. A “1 of 1” is one ruling, not a tendency.
About this data
A free Ezel research resource. This profile is built from public records: the judge's own signed orders, public docket records, and published biographies. It is not legal advice and is not affiliated with the court.
How Judge Bissell decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Bissell treated a material mitigating circumstance as essential to a defensible penalty decision.
“failure to consider a significant mitigating circumstance constitutes an abuse of discretion.”
Bissell remanded when an administrative tribunal failed to address a factual question needed to decide timeliness.
“Whether Casey’s action during this twenty-one day period constituted due diligence on his part was not addressed by the Board.”
She required agencies to apply the governing statute rather than an inconsistent personnel directive.
“There is no evidence in the record before us that OPM followed these simple statutory requirements.”
She required a party asserting procedural error to explain how the defect caused harm.
“Martin is required to demonstrate that the procedural error was harmful.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
Eugene H. Casey v. Merit Systems Protection Board
· 1984-11-28
Petition for review (petitioner)
Granted
“VACATED AND REMANDED.”
John M. VanFossen v. Department of Housing and Urban Development
· 1984-12-05
Petition for review (petitioner)
Granted
“VACATED AND REMANDED”
Wilmington Trust Co. v. United States
· 1985-01-30
Appeal (appellant)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Paul G. Madsen v. Veterans Administration
· 1985-02-08
Petition for review (petitioner)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Michelle D. Zimmerman v. Department of the Army
· 1985-02-21
Petition for review (petitioner)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Mary Lou Starling v. Department of Housing and Urban Development
· 1985-03-15
Petition for review (petitioner)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Martin D. Keely v. Merit Systems Protection Board
· 1985-04-30
Petition for review (petitioner)
Granted
“REVERSED AND REMANDED.”
Gay P. Cobb v. Department of Labor
· 1985-10-07
Petition for review (petitioner)
Granted
“REVERSED.”
Robert D. Hammond v. Office of Personnel Management
· 1986-02-20
Petition for review (petitioner)
Moot / procedural
“DISMISSED.”
Wesley Martin v. Federal Aviation Administration
· 1986-07-15
Petition for review (petitioner)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
Cosby v. United States
· 1986-07-21
Appeal (appellant)
Denied
“AFFIRMED.”
International Mobile Machines Corp. v. International Telephone & Telegraph Corp.
· 1986-09-15
Appeal (appellant)
Granted
“REVERSED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court record.
A historical record
Judge Bissell 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.