James R. Spencer

Who is James R. Spencer?

James Randolph Spencer is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He was born in Florence, South Carolina in 1949 and attended Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1971. He earned Juris Doctor in 1974 at Harvard Law School. He is currently presiding over the highly visible trial of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell who is charged with federal corruption.

After Harvard, he was commissioned as a Captain in the United States Army JAG Corps. He served in that capacity from 1975 until 1978. After being Honorably Discharged from the active duty, he took a job as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, serving there from 1978 until 1983. He also was recommissioned in the U.S. Army Reserves, serving as a Military Judge from 1981 until 1986. From 1983 until 1986, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

James R. Spencer was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1986 to the a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division.