Franklin Swift Billings, Jr. (born June 5, 1922) is an American politician and former judge from the state of Vermont. Billings served successively as Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives, chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont.
Billings was born in Woodstock, Vermont, the son of politician Franklin S. Billings. He received a B.S. from Harvard College in 1943 and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1947. Billings saw service in World War II with the British Eighth Army and the 6th Armoured Division, earning both a Purple Heart and the British Empire Medal. He was injured at the Battle of Monte Cassino in Southern Italy on May 27, 1944, requiring five months of recovery and recuperation at a United States Army hospital in Italy, then four months at a United States Army hospital stateside.
After the war, he returned to Vermont and entered private practice as a lawyer in Woodstock from 1948 to 1966. During that time, he held numerous other positions in Vermont's legislative, executive and judicial branches, including assistant secretary of the Vermont Senate (1949–1953), executive clerk to Governor Joseph Johnson (1955–1957), secretary of the Vermont Senate (1957–1959) and secretary of civil and military affairs (1959–1960). Appointed to a judgeship on the Hartford Municipal Court in 1955, he also served in that capacity until 1962.
Elected to the Vermont House of Representatives as a Republican in 1960, Billings took office in January 1961 and was swiftly promoted to the speakership, which he held for a single term (1963–1965). He then became a judge on the Superior Court, serving from 1966 to 1975, when he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Vermont. He served as an associate justice from 1975 to 1983, then as chief justice from 1983 to 1984. Billings was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on May 25, 1984, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, vacated by James S. Holden. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 15, 1984, and received his commission the same day. He served as chief judge from 1988 to 1991 and assumed senior status on September 9, 1994. Billings married Pauline Richardson Gillingham. They had four children: Franklin S. Billings, III; Jireh S. Billings; Elizabeth Billings; and Ann Billings – all of Woodstock, Vermont.
Sources[]
- Franklin S. Billings, Jr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
The original article can be found at Franklin S. Billings, Jr. and the edit history here.