James Larry Edmondson is an American lawyer and federal judge who has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit since 1986. He was the court's chief judge from 2002 to 2009 and assumed senior status in 2012. His judicial career included the nationally prominent 2000 Elián González case.
Background
James Larry Edmondson was born on July 14, 1947, in Jasper, Georgia, to James George Edmondson and Betty Ruth Holcomb Edmondson. Jasper is the county seat of Pickens County in the north Georgia mountains, a region whose civic and professional life is closely connected with the metropolitan and legal institutions of the state.
His early career developed in Georgia, where he practiced law in Jasper and Lawrenceville before entering federal judicial service. His later work remained centered in the state's legal institutions, including the University of Georgia School of Law and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Education
Edmondson received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University in 1968. Founded in 1836, Emory developed into a major private research university in Atlanta, with undergraduate education connected to professional schools and the wider civic life of Georgia.
He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1971 and a Master of Laws in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia in 1990. The University of Georgia, founded in 1785, is the state's flagship public university, while the University of Virginia, founded in 1819, has a long tradition of legal education and public-law scholarship.
Career
Edmondson began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Sidney Oslin Smith Jr., chief judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, from 1971 to 1973. Federal judicial clerkships provide close exposure to the preparation of opinions, motions, records, and appellate or trial procedure, and this experience preceded Edmondson's entry into private practice.
He practiced law in Jasper in 1973 and in Lawrenceville from 1973 to 1986. He also taught at the University of Georgia School of Law from 1975 to 1984, combining private legal practice with legal education during the years before his appointment to the federal appellate bench.
President Ronald Reagan nominated Edmondson to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on March 26, 1986, to fill the seat vacated by Judge Albert J. Henderson. The Senate confirmed him on April 29, 1986, and his commission was issued on May 7; he entered duty on June 9, 1986. The Eleventh Circuit, created in 1981 from the former Fifth Circuit, hears federal appeals from Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.
Edmondson served as chief judge of the Eleventh Circuit from June 1, 2002, through May 31, 2009. As chief judge, he also served on the Judicial Conference of the United States, the federal judiciary's national policy-making body for court administration. He assumed senior status on July 15, 2012, and has continued as a senior circuit judge.
In 2000, Edmondson wrote the opinion for a three-judge Eleventh Circuit panel in the litigation concerning Elián González. The court upheld the federal government's position that the child's father had authority to speak for him in the immigration matter, making the decision a prominent episode in American immigration and family-law history.
Achievements
Edmondson served as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 1986 and became the court's chief judge from 2002 to 2009, contributing to the administration of a major federal appellate court.
As a member of the Eleventh Circuit panel in the Elián González litigation, Edmondson authored the 2000 opinion upholding the federal government's position concerning the child's representation and return to his father.
Religion
Edmondson is Episcopalian, belonging to the Anglican Christian tradition represented in the United States by the Episcopal Church. Episcopalian worship is shaped by the Book of Common Prayer, sacramental practice, scripture, and a tradition of ordered congregational life.
The Episcopal Church developed from the Church of England after the American Revolution and became part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its religious tradition combines historic Christian liturgy with an emphasis on pastoral service, education, and public responsibility.
Views
Edmondson's public judicial work reflects a legal institutionalism centered on the authority of statutes, administrative agencies, and established rules of procedure. His opinions and public statements in the Elián González litigation emphasized the legal authority of a parent, the limited capacity of a young child to make life-altering decisions independently, and the role of federal law in immigration matters.
Membership
Edmondson's professional memberships included the State Bar of Georgia, the Federal Judges Association, the Gwinnett County Bar Association, the Georgia Bar Foundation, the Old War Horse Lawyers Club, the Order of Barristers, and Pi Sigma Alpha. His association work included leadership in the Gwinnett County Bar Association and participation in organizations connected with legal education, professional service, and the judiciary.
Served on the Board of Governors from 1982 to 1986.
State Bar of Georgia
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United States
1971
President from 1980 to 1981.
Gwinnett County Bar Association
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United States
1980 - 1981
Charter fellow.
Georgia Bar Foundation
,
United States
Trustee.
Institute for Continuing Legal Education
,
United States
1980 - 1984
Federal Judges Association
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United States
Old War Horse Lawyers Club
,
United States
Order of Barristers
,
United States
Pi Sigma Alpha
,
United States
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat described Edmondson as dedicated and said that he had the welfare of the federal appellate system at heart. In discussing the chief judgeship, Edmondson characterized the role as service to the court and the circuit rather than authority over other judges.
Connections
Edmondson married Eugenia Dettelbach; the marriage ended in divorce in 1992. They have two children, Kelley Eugenia Edmondson and Alexandra Lisa Edmondson.
His professional connections included Judge Sidney Oslin Smith Jr., for whom he clerked in the Northern District of Georgia, and the judges and lawyers of the Eleventh Circuit with whom he worked during his appellate career.
James Larry Edmondson, Federal Judicial Center
Federal Judicial Center biography documenting Edmondson's federal judicial service, education, professional career, and membership on the Judicial Conference of the United States.
J.L. Edmondson, United States Courts
Official federal courts reference documenting Edmondson's senior status on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Edmondson named chief judge of the U.S. 11th Circuit
Florida Bar article describing Edmondson's appointment as chief judge, professional background, and statements about the administrative responsibilities of the position.
2002
Appeals Court Excerpts
Contemporary report reproducing excerpts from Edmondson's opinion in the Eleventh Circuit's Elián González case.
