James Leon Holmes

James Leon Holmes (born March 31, 1951) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Born in Hazen, Arkansas, Holmes received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Arkansas State University in 1973, a Master of Arts degree from Northern Illinois University in 1976, a Doctor of Philosophy from Duke University in 1979, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1982.

His first job was working as a door-to-door salesman for the Southwestern Company in Nashville, Tennessee in the summers of 1971, 1972, and 1973.^[1]

From 1974 to 1980, he worked at many businesses, organizations, and colleges which included Northern Illinois University, Duke University, and Augustana College.^[1]

From 1980 to 1981, he served as a law clerk for Katz, McAndrew, Durkee, and Tellen in Rock Island, Illinois.^[1] He was a law clerk for Judge Frank Holt of the Supreme Court of Arkansas from 1982 to 1983. He was in private practice in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1983 to 1990, and again from 1992 to 2004. He was an adjunct faculty member in the Political Science Department at the University of Arkansas in 1983. He was a Tutor/professor at Thomas Aquinas College from 1990 to 1992. He was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Arkansas School of Law in 2002.

Holmes is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Holmes was nominated by President George W. Bush on January 29, 2003, to a seat vacated by Stephen M. Reasoner. The Senate Judiciary Committee gave no recommendation for Holmes.^[2] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 6, 2004 by a 51–46 vote,^[3] and received his commission on July 7, 2004. He served as chief judge from 2005 to 2012. He assumed senior status on March 31, 2018. He retired from active service on February 5, 2020.^[4]

Holmes was at one time a leader in the anti-abortion movement in Arkansas. In 1980, he minimized concerns about the effect on rape victims of a proposed constitutional amendment banning abortion. "Concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami," he wrote. In 1982, he compared the abortion rights movement to the Nazis. "The pro-abortionists counsel us to respond to these problems by abandoning what little morality our society still recognizes," he wrote. "This was attempted by one highly sophisticated, historically Christian nation in our century — Nazi Germany."^[5] In 2003, Holmes apologized for the "strident and harsh" rhetoric of these 1980 and 1982 remarks.^[6][7]

• James Leon Holmes at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.