Rhesa Barksdale

Rhesa Barksdale
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
In office March 12, 1990 – August 8, 2009
Appointed by	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Alvin Rubin
Succeeded by	James Graves
Personal details
Born	(1944-08-08) August 8, 1944 Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
Alma mater	United States Military Academy University of Mississippi, Oxford

Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale (August 8, 1944) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Early life, education and legal training

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Barksdale received a B.S. from United States Military Academy at West Point in 1966. He was in the United States Army from 1966 to 1970, serving in the Vietnam War, and afterwards returned to studies. In 1972, he received a J.D. from the University of Mississippi Law School, where he graduated first in his class and was a member of the Mississippi Alpha chapter of the Phi Delta Theta men's fraternity.

He was a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Byron White from 1972 to 1973.

Career

Barksdale entered the private practice of law, as an attorney for the firm of Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens and Cannada in Jackson, Mississippi from 1973 to 1990. During this time, he was an instructor in constitutional law for the University of Mississippi Law School Paralegal Course in 1975 and 1976, and an instructor in the Mississippi College School of Law in 1976. He was a Chairman, Mississippi Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program from 1982 to 1985.

On November 17, 1989, President George H.W. Bush nominated Barksdale to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated by Alvin Benjamin Rubin. Barksdale was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 9, 1990, and received his commission on March 12, 1990. Barksdale took senior status on August 8, 2009.

Personal

A resident of Jackson, Mississippi, Barksdale is the brother of former Netscape Communications Corporation CEO Jim Barksdale.

See also

• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States

Sources

• Rhesa Barksdale at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.