Judge Bios

On December 6, 1991, Judge Reggie B. Walton resumed his service as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Judge Walton served as the Presiding Judge of Superior Court’s Family Division. Judge Walton previously served as the Presiding Judge of the Court’s Domestic Violence Unit. Prior to his reappointment to the bench by President George Bush, Judge Walton served as the Senior White House Advisor for Crime from May 20, 1991, until the date of his reappointment. Prior to serving in that position, Judge Walton was the Associate Director

On December 6, 1991, Judge Reggie B. Walton resumed his service as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Judge Walton served as the Presiding Judge of Superior Court’s Family Division. Judge Walton previously served as the Presiding Judge of the Court’s Domestic Violence Unit. Prior to his reappointment to the bench by President George Bush, Judge Walton served as the Senior White House Advisor for Crime from May 20, 1991, until the date of his reappointment. Prior to serving in that position, Judge Walton was the Associate Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Executive Office of the President from June 9, 1989 to May 17, 1991.

Before joining the Bush Administration in 1989, Judge Walton had served as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from July 1981 to June 1989. From 1986 until leaving the Superior Court in 1989, Judge Walton served as the Court’s Deputy Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division.

Before his appointment to the Superior Court bench in 1981, Judge Walton served as the Executive Assistant United States Attorney in the Office of the United States Attorney in Washington, D.C., from June 1980 to July 1981, and was an Assistant United States Attorney in that office from March 1976 to June 1980. From June 1979 to June 1980, Judge Walton was also the Chief of the Career Criminal Unit in the United States Attorney’s Office. Before joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Judge Walton was a staff attorney in the Defender Association of Philadelphia from August 1974 to February 1976.

Judge Walton was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, on February 8, 1949. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from West Virginia State College in 1971 and received his Juris Doctorate degree from The American University, Washington College of Law, in 1974.

Judge Walton has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including his inclusion in the 2001 edition of The Marquis Who’s Who in America; the 2000 edition of The Marquis Who’s Who in the World; the 2000 North Star Award presented by the Washington College of Law, The American University; the 1999 Distinguished Alumni Award presented by the Washington College of Law, The American University; the 1997 Honorable Robert A. Shuker Memorial Award presented by the Assistant United States Attorneys’ Association; the 1993 William H. Hastie Award presented by the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association; the 1990 County Spotlight Award presented by the National Association of Counties; the 1990 James R. Waddy Meritorious Service Award presented by the West Virginia State College National Alumni Association; the Secretary’s Award, presented by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1990; the 1989 H. Carl Moultrie Award, presented by the District of Columbia Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; the Bar Association of the District of Columbia’s Young Lawyers Section 1989 Award for Distinguished Service to the Community and the Nation; the 1989 Dean’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Washington College of Law, The American University; and the United States Department of Justice’s Directors Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney in 1980. In addition, April 9, 1991, was declared as Judge Reggie B. Walton Day in the State of Louisiana by the Governor for his contribution to the War on Drugs.

Judge Walton was also commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Wallace G. Wilkinson in 1990 and 1991, which is the highest honor awarded by the State of Kentucky. Numerous mayors in cities throughout the country have bestowed similar honors upon Judge Walton.

Judge Walton was one of 14 judges recently profiled in a book entitled “Black Judges On Justice: Perspectives From The Bench.” The book is the first effort to assess the judicial perspectives of prominent African-American judges in the United States. Judge Walton traveled to lrkutsk, Russia, in May 1996 to provide instruction to Russian Judges on criminal law subjects in a program funded by the United States Department of Justice’s and American Bar Association’s Central and East European Law Initiative Reform Project. Judge Walton is also an instructor in the Harvard University Law School Advocacy Workshop and a faculty member at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.

Judge Walton has been active in working with the youth of the Washington, D.C., area and throughout the nation. He has served as a Big Brother and frequently speaks at schools throughout the Washington Metropolitan area concerning drugs, crime, and personal responsibility.

Judge Walton and his wife, Debra, are the parents of one daughter, Danon.