Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist
John E. Jones III

John E. Jones III

Pennsylvania Middle District Court

Chief Judge — U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Born 1955 in Pottsville, PA

FJC ID: 2946

Career output and lasting influence

Opinions attributed per year · peak 4/year

Pennsylvania Middle District Court · 2002–2021200220102020202140
opinions

Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 6/year

Pennsylvania Middle District Court · 2002–2021200220102020202160
citing decisions

Pennsylvania Middle District Court · 2002–2021

Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.

What else would you like us to graph? Tell us →

John Edward Jones III (born June 13, 1955) is an American lawyer who has been the 30th president of Dickinson College since 2021. He was previously a district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He is best known for his presiding role in the landmark Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case, in which the teaching of intelligent design in public school science classes was ruled to be unconstitutional. In 2014, he ruled that Pennsylvania's 1996 ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. On May 14, 2021, it was announced that Judge Jones would serve as interim president of his alma mater Dickinson College for a two-year period beginning July 1, 2021. On February 28, 2022, Jones was named the 30th President of Dickinson College.

Full biography on Wikipedia ↗
Gender
Male
Race
White

Prior employment

  1. Dickinson College
    President · 2022–present
  2. Dickinson College
    Interim president · 2021–2022
  3. Private practice, Pottsville, Pennsylvania
    1980–2002
  4. Phoenix Contracting Co. and affiliated corporations
    Executive officer · 1980–2002
  5. Union Bank and Trust Company
    Director · 1993–2002
  6. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board
    Chairman · 1995–2002
  7. Pennsylvania Federal Public Defender
    Pennsylvania Federal Public Defender
    Assistant public defender (part-time) · 1984–1995
  8. Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County [Pennsylvania]
    Law clerk (part-time) , Hon. Guy A. Bowe · 1980–1984

Appointments

  1. Pennsylvania Middle District Court
    U.S. District Court for the Middle District of PennsylvaniaChief Judge
    2002–2021 · Appointed by George W. Bush (Republican)
    Term ended: Retirement

Education

  1. Dickinson School of Law (now Penn State Dickinson Law)
    J.D. · 1980
  2. Dickinson College
    B.A. · 1977