Walter Jay Skinner (September 12, 1927 – May 8, 2005) was a
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...
of the
.
Education and career
Born in
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, Skinner received an
Artium Baccalaureus
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1948 and a
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
from
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
in 1952. He was in private practice in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
from 1952 to 1957, and in
Scituate
Scituate is the name of some communities in New England in the United States:
*Brunswick, Maine, formerly named Scituate
*Scituate, Massachusetts, a New England town
**Scituate (CDP), Massachusetts, an area in the town of Scituate
*Scituate, Rhode ...
, Massachusetts from 1957 to 1963, and was also Scituate's town counsel and an assistant
district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
of
Plymouth County, Massachusetts from 1957 to 1963. He was an assistant attorney general and chief of the Massachusetts Criminal Division from 1963 to 1965, thereafter returning to private practice in Boston until 1973.
Federal judicial service
On October 10, 1973, Skinner was nominated by President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
to a seat on the
vacated by Judge
Anthony Julian
Anthony Julian (March 25, 1902 – January 18, 1984) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Education and career
Julian was born in Italy and emigrated to the United States while ...
. Skinner was confirmed by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
on December 14, 1973, and received his commission on December 19, 1973. In 1978, the judge refused to hear an after-hours case seeking to permit the New Hampshire governor to fly flags at half staff on Good Friday, to "memorialize the death of Christ".
Skinner returned to public attention in 1986 during the civil trials for contamination of the Woburn wells and water supply, first by imposing a gag order on the plaintiffs, preventing them from making public comment about the case; and then by throwing out the jury's guilty verdict against W. R. Grace on the grounds that he found some of their answers to the questions about the hydrogeological data to be confusing. Skinner was portrayed by
John Lithgow
John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. Lithgow studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his work on the stage and screen. He has been the recipient of numerous ...
in the 1998 film
''A Civil Action'' about the Woburn case.
In 1988, Skinner notably considered a plan to gradually release certain inmates prior to the completion of their sentences, in an effort to relieve overcrowding in county and city jails.
He assumed
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...
on September 14, 1992, serving in that capacity until his death on May 8, 2005, in
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
, Massachusetts.
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Walter Jay
1927 births
2005 deaths
Harvard Law School alumni
Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon
20th-century American judges