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Statewide political officials of Mississippi | ||
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Jimmy Maxwell | |
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| Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi | |
| Assumed office TBD | |
| Appointed by | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Michael P. Mills |
| Associate Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court | |
| Assumed office January 1,2016 | |
| Appointed by | Phil Bryant |
| Preceded by | David A. Chandler |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Donald Maxwell II May 4,1975 |
| Education | University of Mississippi (BBA,JD) |
James Donald "Jimmy" Maxwell II [1] (born May 4,1975) is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi. He is a nominee to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. [2]
Maxwell was born on May 4,1975,in Metairie,Louisiana. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Mississippi. He attended Mississippi College School of Law for his first year of law school,before completing his final two years and receiving a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law. He practiced civil law in Jackson in the firm of Daniel Coker Horton &Bell [3] before returning to Oxford to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi in 2002. [4] [5]
Maxwell served as a judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals. He was initially appointed to the appeals court by Governor Haley Barbour on February 2,2009,then elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. [3] [4] [5]
On December 23,2015,Governor Phil Bryant announced his appointment of Maxwell to the Supreme Court. [6]
In 2025,Maxwell wrote the 8-1 majority opinion of in re the petition of S.M.-B.,holding that a 16-year old transgender boy could not legally change his name to better fit his gender identity. Despite both of the teenager's parents consenting to the name change,Maxwell stated that according to Mississippi law and past precedent such as the 1957 Mississippi State Supreme Court decision Marshall v. Marshall,any name change must be "clearly in the best interest of the child". [7] While such a reasoning was not expressly stated by the Chancellor in denying the name change,the court determined that similar Mississippi restrictions on the activities of minors were based on the common law reasoning that minors lacked the proper maturity to partake in the associated activity,most relevantly the restrictions of any medications or surgical procedures to assist in gender transition. [8] As such,given the invocation of such common law restrictions regarding a minors gender transition,the court concluded that the youth lacked the maturity for a decision with "serious or long-lasting ramifications" to be in their best interest,precluding them from such a name change. [9]
Maxwell is a past president of the Young Lawyers Division of the Mississippi Bar Association,the Lafayette County Bar Association,and Tri-County Young Lawyers. He has also served on the Board of Bar Commissioners,the Mississippi Bar Foundation,the Diversity in the Law Committee,and the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Prosecutors Association. He is a graduate of Mississippi Economic Council's Leadership Mississippi program and in 2007 was named "Top 40 Under 40" by the Mississippi Business Journal. [4]
Maxwell is married to his wife Mindy and they have two children,Trip and Mae Covington. They are members of First Baptist Church of Oxford and reside in Oxford. [3] [4] [5]
Statewide political officials of Mississippi | ||
|---|---|---|
| U.S. senators | | |
| State government | ||
| Senate |
| |
| House |
| |
| Supreme Court |
| |