Background
Barksdale, Rhesa Hawkins was born on August 8, 1944 in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. Son of John Woodson Junior and Mary Bryan (Saunders) Barksdale.
Barksdale, Rhesa Hawkins was born on August 8, 1944 in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. Son of John Woodson Junior and Mary Bryan (Saunders) Barksdale.
In 1972, he received a J.D. from the University of Mississippi Law School, where he graduated first in his class and was a member of the Mississippi Alpha chapter of the Phi Delta Theta men's fraternity.
Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Barksdale received a B.S. from United States Military Academy at West Point in 1966. He was in the United States Army from 1966 to 1970, serving in the Vietnam War, and afterwards returned to studies. He was a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Byron White from 1972 to 1973.
Barksdale entered the private practice of law, as an attorney for the firm of Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens and Cannada in Jackson, Mississippi from 1973 to 1990. During this time, he was an instructor in constitutional law for the University of Mississippi Law School Paralegal Course in 1975 and 1976, and an instructor in the Mississippi College School of Law in 1976. He was a Chairman, Mississippi Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program from 1982 to 1985.
On November 17, 1989, President George H.W. Bush nominated Barksdale to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated by Alvin Benjamin Rubin. Barksdale was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 9, 1990, and received his commission on March 12, 1990. Barksdale took senior status on August 8, 2009.
A resident of Jackson, Mississippi, Barksdale is the brother of former Netscape Communications Corporation CEO Jim Barksdale.
Chairman Mississippi Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program, Jackson, 1982-1985. Delegate Republican National Convention, New Orleans, 1988. Elector election of President of the United States, Jackson, 1988.
Captain United States Army, 1966-1970, Vietnam. Member American Inn of Court (Charles Clark chapter), Phi Delta Phi (National Graduate of Year 1972).
