William McCrary Ray, II

William McCrary "Billy" Ray II (born 1963) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He was previously a judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals and a member of the Georgia State Senate for District 48.

Biography

Ray was born in Macon, Georgia in 1963. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business in 1985, magna cum laude, his Master of Business Administration from the Terry College of Business in 1986, and his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1990. Upon graduation he joined the law firm of Andersen, Davidson & Tate, P.C. in Gwinnett County, Georgia. On July 30, 2012, Governor Nathan Deal appointed Ray to serve as the 76th Judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia, where he succeeded Keith R. Blackwell, who was elevated to the state Supreme Court. He served in that capacity until his appointment as a federal judge.

Federal judicial service

On July 13, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Ray to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, to the seat vacated by Judge Harold Lloyd Murphy, who assumed senior status on March 31, 2017. On September 20, 2017, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On October 19, 2017, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–9 vote.

On January 3, 2018, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. On January 5, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intent to renominate Ray to a federal judgeship. On January 8, 2018, his renomination was sent to the Senate. On January 18, 2018, his nomination was reported out of committee by an 11–10 vote. On October 11, 2018, his nomination was confirmed by a 54–41 vote. He received his judicial commission on October 25, 2018.

Notable cases

During the 2020 Georgia elections, to protect voting rights during the COVID-19 pandemic, the secretary of state of Georgia Brad Raffensperger directed the mailing of absentee (mail-in) ballot applications to all of Georgia's 6.9 million active registered voters for the state's June 2020 primary. The Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials and other civil rights groups sued the Office of the Secretary of State of Georgia, and the Gwinnett County elections board in Federal District Court, arguing that the mailing of mail-in ballot applications for the 2020 general election (which were only in English) should also have been sent in the Spanish language in Gwinnett County, which has a significant Spanish-speaking population. Judge Ray dismissed the suit in October 2020, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing and the English-only mailings did not violate the Voting Rights Act.

Personal life

Ray has been married since 1989 to Dr. Kelle Chandler Ray, who is a clinical psychologist who practices in Lawrenceville, Georgia. They have three sons and reside in Norcross, Georgia.

One of Ray's uncles was Richard Ray, a Democratic United States Congressman from Perry, Georgia and served as Senator Sam Nunn's Chief of Staff in Washington, D.C. for 12 years, and another uncle was Robert Ray of Fort Valley who served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 24 years.