J. Clifford Wallace
John Clifford Wallace is a Senior United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He assumed office on April 8, 1996. He was Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from January 31, 1991, to April 8, 1996.
For Wallace’s “outstanding life and contribution to society and to the world” as a federal judge, President C. Shane Reese, president of Brigham Young University, bestowed upon him an Honorary Doctorate of Law and Public Service from the university on April 24, 2025. President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency and longtime friend of Wallace attended the BYU commencement where Wallace was honored. President Oaks said of the First Presidency, who also make up the leadership of the BYU Board of Trustees, “In our worldwide responsibilities, we are well-informed observers of J. Clifford Wallace’s powerful performance worldwide.”[1]
He is the longest-serving United States federal circuit judge ever and was the first member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve in a U.S. Court of Appeals and then the first to serve as a chief judge. In 2025, now 96 years old, Wallace told the San Diego Union Tribune he plans to work until he’s 100, if not longer.[2]
He has advised judiciaries in more than 70 countries and was selected to receive the 2022 Susan and Carl Bolch Jr. Prize for the Rule of Law. He was honored during a ceremony in San Diego on March 18, 2022.[3]
On November 5, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Courts recognized Chief Judge Emeritus Wallace for his 50-year judicial career with an exclusive article published on the United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit website.
In 2005, he received the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award.
In the early 1980s, at the invitation of then-Chief Justice Warren Burger, Wallace helped create the American Inns of Court.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has said of him, “His scholarship and dedication to the rule of law has been important for the Ninth Circuit, for the judges and attorneys in that circuit, and for the rest of the judges in the United States, but also, and this is unique, he has inspired those who love the rule of law around the world.”[4]
Wallace was nominated by U.S. president Richard M. Nixon to serve as Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and confirmed by the Senate on June 28, 1972. He had previously served as Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California from October 16, 1970, to July 14, 1972.
Wallace was born on December 11, 1928, in San Diego, California. He earned his bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University and his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He was in private practice in San Diego from 1955 to 1970.
He also served in the U.S. Navy from 1946 to 1949.
Since joining the Church in high school, Wallace has served in a variety of capacities, including as a bishop, stake president, regional representative, president of the San Diego California Temple, and temple sealer. He has been widowed twice and is married to Dixie Jenee Robison Wallace. Together, they have 15 children, 51 grandchildren and 38 great-grandchildren.
