T . S . Ellis , III Thomas Selby ( Tim ) Ellis III ( born May 15 , 1940 , Bogotá , Colombia ) , an American jurist . Ellis is currently serving as judge on the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia . Ellis was educated at Princeton University where he earned a B . S . E . in 1961 . Career as a Naval Aviator . Ellis served in the United States Navy as a Naval aviator from 1961 to 1966 . He flew a wide range of historically significant aircraft during this time , including : Ellis chose not to qualify as an R4D pilot , allegedly in order to avoid lengthy and boring assignments flying that aircraft . On at least one occasion while acting as pilot in command of an R4D , he departed the runway during takeoff due to strong crosswinds . Fortunately , the R4D had strong landing gear , designed for use on turf runways , and there was no damage to the aircraft , the facility , or to Ellis himself . Currently , Ellis ( who intends to obtain his private pilot ' s certificate ) occasionally flies a 1979 Piper Cherokee Warrior II civilian aircraft , accompanied by that aircraft ' s owner . He is also particularly fond of the Beechcraft Bonanza single - engine aircraft , which he pronounces " Bo - NAHN - za , " after the Panamanian fashion . Private Practice of Law . Ellis earned a J . D . from Harvard University in 1969 , where he served as a member of the Board of Student Advisers . He also received a Diploma in Law in 1970 from Oxford University . There he befriended Bernard Rix , now The Rt Hon . Lord Justice Rix . Ellis then entered private practice with the law firm of Hunton & Williams ( now Hunton & Williams LLP ) where he remained until 1987 . His practice included a wide range of commercial litigation matters . He often worked with fellow Hunton & Williams attorney John Charles Thomas , who became Virginia ' s first African - American Supreme Court Justice . Ellis also was a lecturer at the College of William and Mary , from 1981 to 1983 . Judicial Appointment . Ellis was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on July 1 , 1987 , to a seat vacated by Robert R . Merhige . He was confirmed by the Senate on August 5 , 1987 . After two decades of work as a full - time federal district judge , Judge Ellis took Senior Status in April 2007 . He continues to hear cases in the Eastern District of Virginia , and also has been empowered to hear cases in the Western District of Virginia . Judge Ellis also occasionally sits by designation on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit . He once famously dissented from a ruling of that Court by citing one of his own district court decisions . Record and Rulings . John Walker Lindh . Ellis presided over the plea bargain and sentencing of " American Taliban " John Walker Lindh . He imposed a sentence of 20 years for two charges , aiding the Taliban and carrying weapons while committing a felony . He also imposed the Son of Sam law banning him from profiting from books written about his case . Franklin , Rosen , and Weissman . On January 20 , 2006 , Ellis sentenced former Defense Department employee Lawrence Franklin to 12 years and 7 months in prison and a $ 10 , 000 fine for passing " national defense " to an Israeli diplomat and AIPAC , a pro - Israel lobby group . In 2009 , he altered the sentence to 10 months at a halfway house and community service , but chastised Franklin for not following " the rule of law " . On August 9 , 2006 , Ellis denied a motion to dismiss the case of two former AIPAC employees . Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman were charged under the Espionage Act with illegally receiving and transmitting national defense information . Ellis wrote : This ruling was expected to have significant implications for freedom of the press and the First Amendment . Charges against Rosen and Weissman were dropped in 2009 by the government , which claimed in part that Ellis had placed too many barriers on its ability to prosecute the case successfully . United States v . Rosen was also a pioneering use of the silent witness rule in a courtoom . The rule allows for sensitive ( classified , or otherwise ) evidence to be hidden from the public , but available to the jury & counsel , by the use of ' substitution ' such as ' key cards ' . Most previous attempts by the government to use the rule had been banned by various judges or the case had been settled before trial . Judge Ellis was the first to allow it , although he limited it to 4 minutes of use at trial , and devised a ' fairness test ' as to whether the rule should be allowed , and to how much it would make the trial ' closed ' . Critics worried about the Fifth amendment due process and Sixth amendment Confrontation Clause implications of the use of this rule . In particular , Ellis describes it as a ' partial closing ' of the trial , while the sixth amendment guarantees a public trial . For more detail , please see the articles on " Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal " and " United States v . Franklin " . Khalid El - Masri . On Thursday , May 18 , 2006 , Ellis dismissed a lawsuit filed by Khalid El - Masri , a German citizen , against the CIA and three private companies allegedly involved with his kidnapping , transport , and torture in Kabul . Ellis explained his belief that a public trial would " present a grave risk of injury to national security " , though acknowledging that : Others . As of 2009 he was the judge in the case of former United States Representative William J . Jefferson . Ellis is fond of reminding criminal defendants that " life is about making choices and living with the consequences . " Notable Decisions . " this section needs to be expanded "