Donald Ellsworth Walter

Born in Jennings in Jefferson Davis Parish in southwestern Louisiana, Walter was in the United States Army from 1957 to 1958. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University in 1961 and a Juris Doctor from Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 1964. He was in private practice in Lake Charles, Louisiana, from 1964 to 1969 and was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana from 1969 to 1977. In August 1976, President Gerald Ford nominated Walter to the Western District of Louisiana but the United States Senate with a large Democrat majority, declined to vote on his nomination. Walter returned to private practice in Shreveport from 1978 to 1985.[1] In 1977, Walter was appointed chairman of the Republican Party for Louisiana's 4th congressional district, which then embraced eight parishes. Walter likened the Democrats to the "party of special interests" and described the Republican Party as "the only political entity that represents working people, men and women, blacks and whites of our state and nation."[2]

On May 15, 1985, Walter was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana created by 98 Stat. 333. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 10, 1985, receiving his commission the following day. Walter assumed senior status on November 30, 2001.[1]

• Donald Ellsworth Walter at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.