Thomas Penfield Jackson
Thomas Penfield Jackson (born January 10, 1937) is a US District Court Judge for the District of Columbia. He was appointed in 1982 after serving as president of the District of Columbia Bar Association.
He is perhaps best known to the public as the presiding judge in the Microsoft antitrust case where his controversial handling of the case was the subject of discussion by both legal professionals and the media alike.
The judge's conduct during the case was extremely controversial. It was later found to have unfairly favored the prosecution. This, along with his hyperbole-laden public statements about the Microsoft Corporation and its employees while the case was still pending, eventually resulted in his removal from the case by the US Court of Appeals. Speaking about Microsoft executives, he compared them to "gangland killers" and "stubborn mules who should be walloped with a two-by-four". The judge also characterized Microsoft leader and co-founder Bill Gates as "unethical" as well as comparing him to a "drug trafficker" and Napoleon. Statements of this nature by a presiding judge while the case is still being argued are generally considered to be inappropriate.
Judge Jackson's order that Microsoft be divided into two companies, one owning the Windows operating system and the other owning Microsoft's various application software products, including the Internet Explorer Web browser, was also reversed on appeal. His factual findings, however, were upheld, as was his conclusion that Microsoft was liable for monopolization under Section 2 of the Sherman Act.
After his ruling was overturned, amid harsh criticism of his conduct and bias by the US Court of Appeals, Judge Jackson, to the surprise of many, denied that any such bias existed and insisted that any perception of bias in the minds of observers was created by Microsoft.
When an unrelated case involving Microsoft and charges of discrimination was assigned to him in 2001, the judge recused himself from the case.