Frank J. Williams (August 24, 1940-) is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, a notable Abraham Lincoln scholar and author, and a Justice on the Military Commission Review Panel.[1][2]
Frank Williams was born in 1940 to Italian immigrants.[3] He graduated from Cranston East High School, Boston University and Boston University School of Law, and he received masters in taxation from Bryant University. From 1962 to 1967, he served as a captain in the U.S. Army and won a Bronze Star in Vietnam.[1] He served as town moderator of Richmond, Rhode Island, and town solicitor. Governor Lincoln Almond 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.[1] As of July 2007, he replaced Griffin Bell as the Chief Judge.[2] He served as Chief Judge of the US Court of Military Commissions until December 2009.
He was a member of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission 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.
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. Williams is also an accomplished amateur chef, having appeared as a guest on the cooking show, Ciao Italia, with Mary Ann Esposito.[4]