The Hon. William Matthew Byrne, Jr. (deceased) is a former judge for the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He was nominated to the bench by former President Richard Nixon on April 21, 1971, and confirmed by the United States Senate on May 20, 1971, becoming the youngest person to be named to the federal bench. Byrne assumed senior status on February 28, 1998, serving until his passing on January 12, 2006.
Shortly after arriving on the bench, he was assigned the Pentagon Papers case, but following several unexpected events, including the Watergate scandal, the government’s case lost momentum, and Byrne eventually declared a mistrial on May 11, 1973. Byrne later became chief judge of the Central District of California.
He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California in 1953. Byrne then completed an LL.B. at the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, in 1956.
Following law school, he entered the military, joining the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps in 1956. Byrne also served as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Pierson M. Hall with the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. Upon completing his military service in 1958, he became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of California, where he would remain for the next two years. Then, in 1960, Byrne joined Dryden, Harrington, Horgan & Swartz as a partner, practicing there for seven years before being named the United States Attorney for the Central District of California by former President Lyndon Johnson in 1967.
Just prior to his call to the federal bench, he was the Executive Director of President Nixon’s Commission on Campus Unrest since 1970. Byrne also taught as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School.
Byrne traveled throughout South America and the Soviet Union, lecturing on the Western perspective of justice in areas with emerging legal systems. In addition, he served on the boards of the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles; the Norton Simon Museum; the Performing Arts Council of the Music Center; and the Los Angeles Zoo Association.
Byrne was born in Los Angeles, California, where he attended Loyola High School. His late father, the Hon. William Matthew Byrne, Sr., served as chief judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
