Edith Jones

Edith Jones

Edith Hollan Jones (born April 7, 1949) is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Jones graduated from Cornell University in 1971. She received her J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law in 1974, where she was a member of the Texas Law Review. She was in private practice in Houston, Texas, from 1974 until 1985, working for the firm of Andrews, Kurth, Campbell & Jones, where she became the firm's first female partner. She specialized in bankruptcy law. She also served as General Counsel for the Republican Party of Texas from 1982-83.

She was nominated to the Fifth Circuit by President Ronald Reagan on February 27, 1985, and confirmed by the United States Senate on April 3, 1985. She received her commission on April 4, 1985, at the age of 36. She became Chief Judge of the Fifth Circuit on January 16, 2006, upon the expiration of the term of Carolyn Dineen King.

She sits on the board of directors of the Boy Scouts of America and the Garland Walker American Inns of Court.

Jones has been mentioned frequently as being on the list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court of the United States. A 1990 report from The New York Times cited her as George H.W. Bush's second choice for the Supreme Court vacancy filled by Justice David Souter. The Chicago Sun-Times and several other newspapers reported on July 1, 2005, that she had also been considered for nomination to the Supreme Court during the presidency of George W. Bush.