Walter Smith Jr.

This page is about a former federal judge of the Western District of Texas. If you are looking for information on the federal judge for the Eighth Circuit, please see Walter Inglewood Smith.

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Walter Smith Jr.

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

United States District Court for the Western District of Texas

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Bildung

Bachelor's

Baylor University, 1964

Law

Baylor University School of Law, 1966

Personal

Birthplace

Marlin, Texas

Walter Scott Smith Jr. was a Article III federal judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. He joined the court in 1984 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. He retired from the district court on September 14, 2016.

Bildung

Smith graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, earning his bachelor's degree in 1964 and his J.D. in 1966.

Career

From 1966 to 1980, Smith was a private practice attorney in the state of Texas. He served as a judge in the 54th District Court based in McLennan County, Texas, from 1980 to 1983. He went on to briefly serve as a federal magistrate judge in the Western District of Texas from 1983 to 1984.

On the recommendation of U.S. Senator Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Smith was nominated to the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas by President Ronald Reagan on September 11, 1984, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333. Smith was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 3, 1984, and received commission on October 4, 1984. He served as chief judge of the court from 2003 to 2010 and was succeeded in that role by Samuel Biery. He retired from the district bench on September 14, 2016.

Noteworthy cases

Environmentalists lose in lawsuit against power plant (2014)

See also: United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (Sierra Club v. Energy Future Holdings Corp. and Luminant Generation Co., 6:12-cv-108)

On February 26, 2014, Judge Smith ruled in favor of Energy Future Holdings Corp. (EFHC) and its subsidiary, Luminant Generation Co. (Luminant), in a three-day bench trial over an environmental lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club.

In the underlying case, the Sierra Club sued EFHC in May 2012, alleging that the company violated the Clean Air Act. The Sierra Club requested about $470 million in civil penalties and pollution reparations, claiming that the Big Brown power plant violated the federal environmental act thousands of times and that those violations "adversely affected … sensitive populations such as people with asthma, the elderly, and children who [were] at elevated risk for deleterious health effects posed by emissions from coal-fired boilers."

In an oral ruling, Smith found that the Sierra Club's claims were without merit and unsupported by the evidence produced at trial. While Luminant called the judge's decision a "significant legal victory," the Sierra Club pledged to appeal.

In his August 29 written decision, Smith called the lawsuit "frivolous" and ordered the Sierra Club to pay the energy company $6.4 million in attorneys' fees. However, in a November 24 settlement deal, EFHC agreed to relinquish the judgment in exchange for the environmentalist group dropping future litigation in the matter.

Noteworthy events

Sexual misconduct complaint filed against Smith

In 2014, attorney Ty Clevenger filed a complaint that alleged Smith had inappropriate sexual contact in 1998 with a staff member of the federal district clerk's office in Waco. The staff member testified that Smith had asked her to his chambers, where he proceeded to kiss and touch her inappropriately before asking her to have sex with him. She declared that she had done nothing to provoke the advances and rarely spoke with Smith at work.

On September 29, 2014, Judge Carl Stewart of the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit asked Clevenger for more information regarding the sexual misconduct complaint Clevenger filed earlier in September against Smith. On October 30, 2014, Stewart referred the attorney’s complaint against Smith to a special investigative committee composed of 5th Circuit Judge Catharina Haynes, Judge Carlton W. Reeves of the Southern District of Mississippi and himself. Clevenger said he received word in October 2015 that the committee had submitted its report to the Judicial Council of the 5th Circuit. On October 24, 2015, Clevenger filed an additional complaint against Smith, this time asking that he be impeached. He also filed a complaint against Smith and Waco attorney Greg White for failing to disclose that White was acting as Smith's counsel in the judicial misconduct investigation—an alleged conflict of interest.

December 2015 update: The investigative panel found that Smith's conduct "was in contravention of existing standards of behavior for federal judges" but did not impeach him. Smith was reprimanded and banned from taking on new cases—either criminal or civil—for a year, starting on December 3, 2015.

January 2016 update: Clevenger filed an appeal against the December decision. Stated Clevenger, "I am appealing the decision because I think no one should be above the law, even if you are a federal judge. He deserves to be impeached." He added, "I’m sure most felons wish they could receive such lenient treatment. It seems the Fifth Circuit has created a new category of crime — the de minimis felony — for those cases where the perpetrator is a federal judge."

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
• United States District Court for the Western District of Texas

External links

• Judge Smith's biography from the Federal Judicial Center
• KWTX.com, "Local Federal Judge Named In Complaint Alleging Sexual Misconduct," September 16, 2014
• Western District of Texas, "Bio: U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith, Jr."

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by: NA-New Seat	Western District of Texas 1984–2016 Seat #7	Succeeded by: Alan Albright