Information about Judge William Alsup's Wife, Salary, and Political Affiliation

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William Alsup Biography – William Alsup Wiki

William Alsup is a senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He was appointed to the federal bench in 1999 by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

He originally planned a career in engineering, but while attending Mississippi State University during the heart of the civil rights movement—and actively promoting desegregation while he was on campus—his plans changed. As president of the student YMCA, in 1947 he helped bring Aaron Henry, the president of the Mississippi chapter of the NAACP, to the university as the first African-American speaker to address the faculty and students.

This was accomplished in spite of an initial veto of Henry’s appearance by the state Board of Trustees, who later backed down under threat of a First Amendment lawsuit in federal court. That experience and other similar ones led the future judge to subsequently pursue both a law degree and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University, according to the Federal Bar Association.

After graduation, Judge Alsup clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. After a brief practice in Mississippi, William Alsup began a 25-year career with the San Francisco firm Morrison & Foerster.

From 1978 to 1980, he took a leave of absence from the firm to serve as an assistant solicitor general during the Carter administration. In that role, he argued six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and handled dozens of other Supreme Court matters.

After returning to private practice for almost 20 years, in 1999 he was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by President Bill Clinton.