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Senate Convicts Chief Judge Nixon On Perjury Charge

1989

The Senate convicts Walter L. Nixon Jr., chief federal judge for the Southern District Court of Mississippi, and removes him from office. Nixon was impeached by the House on May 10, 1989, for perjuring himself before a grand jury. He had been convicted in 1986 on perjury charges and sentenced to five years in prison. He resided in a halfway house during his Senate trial. Nixon was drawing his judicial salary and could have returned to work after finishing his sentence. He appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rules that courts lack jurisdiction to review Senate impeachment action. Nixon returns to law practice in 1993.