Opinion ID: 1801704
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: Through this petition, former United States District Court Judge, Walter L. Nixon Jr., seeks reinstatement of his license to practice law in Mississippi. For reasons enunicated below, this Court grants the petition.

Walter L. Nixon Jr. graduated from Tulane Law School with honors in 1951 at the age of 23. Immediately thereafter, Nixon became a member of both the Louisiana and Mississippi Bars; he then joined the Air Force as a Judge Advocate. In 1955, he settled down in his hometown of Biloxi and practiced law for the next 16 years. During those years, he served as President of what is now known as the Mississippi Trial Lawyers' Association and as President of the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce. In 1968, Nixon gave up his private practice to accept a position on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. [2]
Nixon remained on the bench until his removal in 1986, which can be traced to a case he tried in 1980. This case  United States v. 717.42 Acres of Land  involved a taking by the federal government of a large portion of Petit Bois Island which lies off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Nixon's participation and decision in this case prompted a special investigation by the Justice Department. Ultimately, federal prosecutors charged Nixon with three counts of perjury before a grand jury and one count of accepting an illegal gratuity. In the United States District Court in the Southern District of Mississippi, a jury found Nixon innocent of the latter count and innocent of one of the perjury counts. For the two perjury counts of which the jury found him guilty, Nixon received two concurrent terms of five years' imprisonment. See United States v. Nixon, 816 F.2d 1022 (5th Cir.1987) (detailing the facts which culminated in Nixon's conviction). In his criminal justice textbook  Crime and Justice in America: A Human Perspective  Professor James B. Halsted, who closely followed the Nixon case, published a critical commentary on the jury's verdict: There is an extreme paradox in Nixon's conviction. Walter Nixon, a Democrat appointed by Lyndon Johnson, was convicted of lying to a grand jury about activities that the same jury determined were totally legal and aboveboard. What the trial verdict seems to be saying is, in essence, that though he was innocent of the corrupt activities between 1979 and 1983 for which the grand jury investigated him, he is still guilty of lying to a federal grand jury to cover up his innocence! Where were the checks and balances on the federal grand jury system and his due process rights to prevent this obvious injustice? Id. at 298. Throughout his ordeal, Nixon has maintained his innocence of the charge that he lied to the grand jury. Thus, upon conviction, he appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. [3] Nixon, 816 F.2d at 1022. Meanwhile, in 1986, the Mississippi Bar (hereinafter Bar) filed a complaint seeking to revoke or at least suspend Nixon's license. This Court responded by suspending Nixon's license indefinitely. [4] See Mississippi State Bar v. Nixon, 494 So.2d 1388 (Miss. 1986). Three years later, Nixon's appeal to the United States Supreme Court failed, and he began serving his sentence. Nixon v. United States, 484 U.S. 1026, 108 S.Ct. 749, 98 L.Ed.2d 762 (1988). The Bar subsequently filed a motion with this Court to have Nixon disbarred. This Court granted the motion on November 22, 1989. [5] See Mississippi State Bar v. Nixon, 562 So.2d 1288 (Miss. 1990). In November 1989, the Senate impeached Nixon. Shortly thereafter, the United States Parole Commission paroled Nixon after his serving nearly two years. [6]
On December 11, 1992  nearly seven years after this Court suspended his license and over three years after this Court revoked it  Nixon filed a petition for reinstatement. A list of Mississippians who wrote letters on Nixon's behalf is supportive of the petition: