Robert Bruce King

Robert Bruce King (born January 29, 1940) is an American jurist who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit since 1998. He was previously the United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia from 1977 to 1981.

Early life and education

King was born in 1940 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. His father died when King was only ten, leaving his mother, Gladys, a widow at thirty-one. Gladys raised King and his two siblings while working in a kitchen at The Greenbrier resort, all the while instilling in them the importance of hard work and education. King and his sister would later endow a scholarship at West Virginia University in honor of their mother's dedication to her children and their education.

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from West Virginia University in 1961, King entered active duty in the United States Air Force and served as an officer in the Office of Special Investigations. After his discharge in 1964, he returned to Greenbrier County to work as a teacher. While teaching, he met his future wife, a fellow teacher named Julia Kay Doak, and the two wed in April 1965. The following year, King enrolled at West Virginia University College of Law, where he was a member of the West Virginia Law Review and president of the Student Bar Association. He graduated Order of the Coif in 1968.

Professional career

King began his legal career as a law clerk in Charleston for Judge John A. Field, Jr. on the Southern District of West Virginia. After clerking, King joined the firm Haynes & Ford in Lewisburg. He returned to Charleston in 1970 to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of West Virginia, where he stayed until 1974. One of King's most significant prosecutions during this time involved the bribing of a juror in the 1968 trial of former West Virginia Governor William Wallace Barron and some of his associates, who faced corruption charges. The jury foreperson confessed to accepting a bribe for acquittals, and Governor Barron subsequently pled guilty, received a twelve-year prison sentence, and became a government witness in the trials of two other people implicated in the bribery. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, King also prosecuted five Logan County officials on civil rights charges relating to electoral fraud. However, in November, he formally withdrew his August letter and announced he would continue on as an active member of the Fourth Circuit. Reports surfaced that judge King preferred former U.S. Senator Carte Goodwin to be nominated to replace him, while the White House preferred J. Jeaneen Legato, a personal injury lawyer from Charleston.

Notable cases On April 7, 2025, King was one of a panel of three judges to order the government to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was erroneously deported to El Salvador, back to the United States.