COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The chief judge of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday she is retiring because she has early onset Alzheimer's disease and doesn't want her future rulings to be questioned.

Judge Karen Williams, 57, sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Wednesday night to let him know she was stepping down. By the next day, her name was off the court's Web site, leaving five open seats on a 15-judge court that has for years has been considered one of the most conservative courts in the land. It falls to the Democratic president to nominate judges to fill them.

Williams' clerk said she wasn't giving interviews, but released a short statement from her Orangeburg office.

"Judge Williams has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and while she is presently able to perform her judicial duties, because of the nature of the disease she has elected to retire so any future decisions would not be called into question,'' the statement read.

Williams was nominated to the court in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush. She was the first woman ever on the 4th Circuit bench. She had been chief judge since 2007 when fellow South Carolinian William Wilkins became a senior judge.

Respected by her peers, Williams was mentioned as a potential candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court when two seats came open in 2005

The 4th Circuit covers cases in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.

 

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The chief judge of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday she is retiring because she has early onset Alzheimer's disease and doesn't want her future rulings to be questioned.

Judge Karen Williams, 57, sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Wednesday night to let him know she was stepping down. By the next day, her name was off the court's Web site, leaving five open seats on a 15-judge court that has for years has been considered one of the most conservative courts in the land. It falls to the Democratic president to nominate judges to fill them.

Williams' clerk said she wasn't giving interviews, but released a short statement from her Orangeburg office.

"Judge Williams has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and while she is presently able to perform her judicial duties, because of the nature of the disease she has elected to retire so any future decisions would not be called into question,'' the statement read.

Williams was nominated to the court in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush. She was the first woman ever on the 4th Circuit bench. She had been chief judge since 2007 when fellow South Carolinian William Wilkins became a senior judge.

Respected by her peers, Williams was mentioned as a potential candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court when two seats came open in 2005

The 4th Circuit covers cases in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.