James Parker Jones (born July 3, 1940) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia (in case citations, W.D. Va.) is a United States district court. Appeals from the Western District of Virginia are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth ...

. He served as a judge of the

United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), also called the FISA Court, is a United States federal courts, U.S. federal court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests ...

from 2015 to 2022. He served as a judge of the

United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court The United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court is a special court in the United States created in 1996 that has never conducted proceedings. It consists of five Article III judges, selected by the Chief Justice of the United States. Its job is ...

from 2016 to 2021.

Early life and education

Jones was born in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in psychology from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

in 1962 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

in 1965.

Career

Jones was an assistant commonwealth attorney general of Virginia from 1965 to 1966. He was a

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

for Judge

Clement Haynsworth Clement Furman Haynsworth Jr. (October 30, 1912 – November 22, 1989) was a United States federal judge, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was also an Unsuccessful nominations to the Supr ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district cou ...

from 1966 to 1968. He was in private practice in

Abingdon, Virginia Abingdon is a town in and the county seat of Washington County, Virginia, United States, southwest of Roanoke. The population was 8,376 at the 2020 census. The town encompasses several historically significant sites and features a fine arts a ...

from 1968 to 1971, and in

Bristol, Virginia Bristol is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 17,219. It is the Twin cities (geographical proxi ...

, from 1971 to 1995. He was a member of the

Senate of Virginia The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Vir ...

from 1983 to 1988. He also served on the

Virginia State Board of Education The Virginia State Board of Education is an independent board established by the state of Virginia in the United States which helps set state elementary and secondary educational policy, advocates within state government for elementary and secondar ...

from 1990 to 1996.

Federal judicial service

Expired district court nomination under Jimmy Carter

On May 16, 1979, President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

nominated Jones to a seat on the

. However, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

did not process Jones' nomination before Carter lost his bid for re-election, and President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

chose not to renominate Jones to the seat.

Renomination under Clinton

On December 12, 1995, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

nominated Jones to serve as a United States district judge of the

to fill the seat vacated by Judge James Harry Michael Jr., who had taken senior status. The United States Senate confirmed Jones on July 18, 1996, and he received his commission on August 1, 1996. Jones served as chief judge from 2004 to 2010. He assumed senior status on August 30, 2021. He served as a judge of the

from 2015 to 2022 and as a judge of the

from 2016 to 2021.

Personal life

Jones married Mary Duke Trent, the granddaughter of Mary Duke Biddle and

Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Sr. Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Sr. (October 1, 1874 – May 27, 1948) was a millionaire whose fortune allowed him to pursue theatricals, self-published writing, athletics, and Christianity on a full-time basis. He trained men in hand-to-hand comb ...

, in 1964.

Notable cases

In 2007, Jones levied a fine of $634.5 million against Purdue Pharma L.P., the maker of OxyContin, and three of its executives for misleading the public regarding the safety of prescription pain medication.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, James Parker 1940 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Duke University alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia Judges of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Lawyers from Tampa, Florida United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton University of Virginia School of Law alumni Virginia Democrats Virginia lawyers 20th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly