| John Trice Nixon | |
| Office: | Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee |
| Term Start: | August 15, 1998 |
| Term End: | December 19, 2019 |
| Office1: | Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee |
| Term Start1: | 1991 |
| Term End1: | 1998 |
| Predecessor1: | Thomas A. Wiseman Jr. |
| Successor1: | Robert L. Echols |
| Office2: | Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee |
| Term Start2: | May 12, 1980 |
| Term End2: | August 15, 1998 |
| Appointer2: | Jimmy Carter |
| Predecessor2: | Seat established by 92 Stat. 1629 |
| Successor2: | Aleta Arthur Trauger |
| Birth Name: | John Trice Nixon |
| Birth Date: | 9 January 1933 |
| Birth Place: | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California |
| Children: | 2, including Mignon Nixon |
| Father: | Herman Clarence Nixon |
| Education: | Harvard College (AB) Vanderbilt University Law School (LLB) |
John Trice Nixon (January 9, 1933 – December 19, 2019) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
John Trice Nixon was born on January 9, 1933, in New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] His father, Herman Clarence Nixon, was a political scientist at Vanderbilt University and a member of the Southern Agrarians.[2] Nixon graduated from Peabody Demonstration School. He then received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Harvard College in 1955.[1] He earned a Bachelor of Laws from the Vanderbilt University Law School in 1960.[1]
He served in the United States Army in 1958 for six months, and then in the United States Army Reserves.[1] [3] In September 1963, he was commissioned a second lieutenant while serving with the 405th Civil Affairs Group where he was assigned to the legal section.[4]
Nixon was in private practice as a lawyer in Anniston, Alabama, from 1960 to 1962.[1] He served as city attorney of Anniston from 1962 to 1964.[1] He was a trial attorney of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice from 1964 to 1969.[1] He returned to private practice from 1969 to 1971.[1] He then served as a staff attorney of Office of the State Comptroller in Tennessee from 1971 to 1976.[1] Moving to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1976, he practiced law there until 1977.[1] He then served as a judge of the Circuit Court of Tennessee from 1977 to 1978, and as a judge of the Tennessee Court of General Sessions from 1978 to 1980.[1]
Nixon was nominated by President Jimmy Carter on February 27, 1980, to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629.[1] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 9, 1980, and received his commission on May 12, 1980.[1] He served as Chief Judge from 1991 to 1998, and assumed senior status on August 15, 1998.[1] He took inactive senior status in 2016, meaning that while he remained a federal judge, he no longer heard cases or participated in the business of the court.[5]
Nixon married Betty C. Nixon, later a Nashville city councilor.[2] They had two daughters, Mignon,[2] and Anne, the former who is a professor at University College London (UCL) in London. The Nixons were divorced prior to Mrs. Nixon's death in 2016.[6]
Nixon died on December 19, 2019, in Los Angeles, California.