John D. Butzner, Jr.

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John Decker Butzner, Jr. (1913–January 20, 2006) was a United States federal judge.

Butzner was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. As a child, he began to become interested in the law when he visited his uncle Billy Butzner, a lawyer. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Scranton, graduating magna cum laude in 1938, and went on to the University of Virginia School of Law. While there, he served on the board of editors of the Virginia Law Review. In 1941, Butzner received his law degree and started practicing law at his uncle's firm of Butzner & Hicks in Fredericksburg, Virginia, but his career was interrupted by World War II the following year. From 1942 to 1945, Butzner was a staff sergeant in the United States Army Air Forces Weather Service in Alaska. With the war's end, Butzner returned to private practice. Within two years, he married his wife, Viola Peterson.

Butzner's career in private practice ended in 1958, when he became an associate judge of Virginia's 15th Judicial Circuit. He stayed in that role until 1960, when he became a judge of Virginia's 39th Judicial Circuit. Two years later he was promoted again when President John F. Kennedy nominated him to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He was confirmed by the Senate on June 15, 1962. He remained a federal district judge until he took a seat on the bench of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on August 1, 1967. In 1976, Butzner received the Distinguished Service Award from the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.

After fifteen years of active service, Butzner assumed senior status on November 1, 1982. He still maintained a heavy workload until 2000, when he became inactive. On January 20, 2006, Butzner died in Richmond, Virginia after a lengthy illness.

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