Frank J. Williams is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, a notable Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 scholar and author, and a Justice on the Military Commission Review Panel.

Biography

Frank Williams was born in 1940 to Italian immigrants. He graduated from Cranston

Cranston, Rhode Island

Cranston, once known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. With a population of 80,387 at the 2010 census, it is the third largest city in the state. The center of population of Rhode Island is located in Cranston...

 East High School, Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

 and Boston University School of Law

Boston University School of Law

Boston University School of Law is the law school affiliated with Boston University, and is ranked #22 among American law schools by US News and World Report magazine. It is the second-oldest law school in Massachusetts and one of the first law schools in the country to admit students regardless...

, and he received masters in taxation from Bryant University

Bryant University

Bryant University is a private university located in Smithfield, Rhode Island, U.S., that grants the degrees of bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and master's degrees in business, taxation and accounting. Until August 2004, it was known as Bryant College...

. From 1962 to 1967, he served as a captain in the U.S. Army and won a Bronze Star in Vietnam

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. He served as town moderator of Richmond, Rhode Island

Richmond, Rhode Island

Richmond is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 7,708 at the 2010 census. The villages of Alton, Arcadia, Carolina, Hope Valley, Kenyon, Shannock, Usquepaug, Woodville, and Wyoming are located in Richmond.-History:The town of Richmond was originally part...

, and town solicitor. Governor Lincoln Almond

Lincoln Almond

Lincoln Carter Almond is an American attorney, politician and member of the Republican Party. Almond served as United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island from 1969–1978 and 1981–1993 and latter the 72nd Governor of Rhode Island, serving from 1995 to 2003.- Early life, education and...

 appointed Williams to the Supreme Court in 1995. He was elevated to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 2001.

In 2003, President Bush appointed Williams through the Secretary of Defense to be a member of the United States Court of Military Commission Review

United States Court of Military Commission Review

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that rulings from the Guantanamo military commissions could be appealed to a Court of Military Commission Review, which would sit in Washington D.C.....

. As of July 2007, he replaced Griffin Bell

Griffin Bell

Griffin Boyette Bell was an American lawyer and former Attorney General. He served as the nation's 72nd Attorney General during the Jimmy Carter administration...

 as the Chief Judge. He served as Chief Judge of the US Court of Military Commissions

United States Court of Military Commission Review

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that rulings from the Guantanamo military commissions could be appealed to a Court of Military Commission Review, which would sit in Washington D.C.....

 until December 2009.

He was a member of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was the Congressionally created 14-member federal commission focused on planning and commemorating the 200th birthday of the United States' 16th president on February 12, 2009. The commission served for ten years, from 2000 to 2010...

 and co-founded and for 16 years has chaired the The Lincoln Forum. Williams was President of The Abraham Lincoln association and The Lincoln Group of Boston, and currently serves as President of The Ulysses S. Grant Association. In 2010 Williams was elected to the board of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation

Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation

The newly reconstituted Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation is the successor organization of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission , which was created by Congress and the President of the United States to plan the commemoration of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday in 2009...

.

Frank J. Williams stepped down from the Supreme Court at the end of December 2009 and has lectured at several universities and institutes, most notably at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College

Saint Anselm College

Saint Anselm College is a nationally ranked, private, Benedictine, Catholic liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Founded in 1889 by Abbot Hilary Pfrängle, O.S.B. of Saint Mary's Abbey in Newark, New Jersey, at the request of Bishop Denis M. Bradley of Manchester, New Hampshire, the...

. Williams is also an accomplished amateur chef, having appeared as a guest on the cooking show, Ciao Italia, with Mary Ann Esposito

Mary Ann Esposito

Mary Ann Esposito is the host and creator of the television program, Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito, which has been on the air since 1989 and is America's longest-running cooking program....

.

External links

• Official Secretary of State site
• Interview with Justice Williams about his life and literary work (the Exacting Editor), generally very favorable
• "A List Of The Judicial Misconduct Of Chief Justice Frank J. Williams" (Caught.net), unofficial and highly critical site