Walter Burgwyn Jones (October 16, 1888 – August 1, 1963) was an American judge, legislator, and writer from Alabama.[1]
Political career
Jones served in the Alabama House of Representatives, as a Democrat, from 1919 to 1920. He was then a circuit court judge until 1935. Jones was a presiding judge from 1935 to 1963.[2]
In 1956, Jones granted an injunction against the operation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People within the state of Alabama. The injunction had been prepared secretly by state Attorney General John Malcolm Patterson and was granted by Jones "in a stunning abuse of judicial power ... without so much as a public hearing." The injunction also demanded the NAACP hand over the names and addresses of every Alabama member of the organization.[3]
While presiding over New York Times Co. v. Sullivan in 1960, Jones ruled that the presence of an Alabama lawyer representing The New York Times contributed to the existence of a substantial business interest in the state of Alabama. This ruling ensured that the lawsuit would play out in his own courtroom. In so doing, he overruled his own book, Alabama Pleading and Practice.[4] Jones was an avowed white-supremacist. While presiding in Sullivan, Jones began by lecturing against "racial agitators" and in praise of "white man's justice."[5]
