[1][2] Born in Cadiz, Kentucky, Vinson attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in engineering.
[3] Vinson was appointed to serve a seven-year term on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, effective May 4, 2006.
[4] As a member of the FISA court, Vinson issued a top secret court order on April 25, 2013, requiring Verizon's Business Network Services to provide metadata on all calls in its system to the National Security Agency "on an ongoing daily basis".
[5][6] In 2010, Vinson was assigned to hear a case, Florida et al v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, brought by a group of 26 states that was filed with support by 22 attorneys general and four governors challenging the constitutionality of the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), specifically its requirement that most individuals obtain medical insurance.
[13][14] Vinson later issued a stay to his January ruling, allowing implementation to proceed while its constitutionality was weighed.