Jackson L. Kiser

Born in Welch, West Virginia, Kiser earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concord College in 1951 and a Bachelor of Laws from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1952. He served as an attorney for the United States Army JAG Corps from 1952 to 1955. Afterward, he served as a captain in the United States Army Reserve from 1955 to 1961. Later, he was a United States Commissioner for the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia from 1956 to 1958. He then worked as an Assistant United States Attorney of the Western District of Virginia from 1958 to 1961. He was in private practice in Martinsville, Virginia from 1961 to 1982.[2]

On November 4, 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated Kiser to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 3, 1981, and received his commission the same day. He served as Chief Judge from 1993 to 1997. He assumed senior status on April 30, 1997, and relocated his chambers from Roanoke, Virginia to Danville, Virginia.[2]

Over the course of his judicial career, Kiser has heard and decided a number of highly important judicial questions. Most notably, he was the trial judge for two cases that eventually reached the United States Supreme Court: United States v. Virginia, in which the Supreme Court held Virginia Military Institute's male-only admissions policy unconstitutional, and United States v. Morrison, in which the High Court struck down portions of a federal law for exceeding the scope of Congress' authority under the Commerce Clause.

• Jackson L. Kiser at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.