About Judge Charles W. Pickering

Charles Pickering is a lawyer, a farmer, a former Mississippi State Senator and a United States Federal Judge. He has been active in civic, religious, and political activities in Mississippi since the 1960s. His career spans over four decades.

Judge Pickering was appointed to the United States District Court for the Southern Districts of Mississippi on October 2, 1990 by former President George Bush. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Pickering served briefly as the Laurel City Judge in 1969, followed by two consecutive elections to the Mississippi State Senate in 1972. As a member of the State Senate he served on the Finance, Judiciary, and Highways Committees and also as Vice Chairman of the Agriculture Committee. Pickering practiced law for almost 30 years in Jones County. He also served as the County Attorney for Jones County from 1964-1968 and the City Prosecuting Attorney for Laurel from 1963-1964. Pickering is well remembered for actively helping prosecute the Ku Klux Klan in the murder of civil rights activist Vernon Dahmer.

Pickering headed the March of Dimes campaign in Jones County; served as the first President of the Catfish Farmers of America, lay President of the Mississippi Baptist Convention from 1976-1978, President of the Jones County 4-H Club, President of the Jones County Drug Education Council, and Chairman of the Jones County Heart Fund. He was also the Chairman of the Jones County Chapter of the American National Red Cross, Co-Chairman of the United Givers Fund, Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party from 1976 to 1978, and was the first Chairman of the Economic Development Authority of Jones County. Pickering served on the Platform Committee at the 1976 Republican National Convention, was Chairman of the subcommittee on Human rights and Responsibilities, spent four years on the Board of Directors of the Federal Judges Association, and was the Republican choice for Attorney General in 1979. He is the chair of the Board of Trustees of William Carey University.

Judge Pickering has served on the Judicial Branch Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Board of Directors for the Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi, and works with a group in Laurel developing a program for at-risk children.

In his church, Judge Pickering has served for several years as a Sunday School teacher, a Chairman of the Deacons, a Sunday School Superintendent, and church treasurer.

Judge Pickering graduated from Jones County Junior College in 1957 and received his B.A. with a Major in History with honors from the University of Mississippi in 1959. In 1961 he also received his J.D. Degree and graduated first in his class from the University of Mississippi.

Pickering is married to the former Margaret Ann Thomas of Ellisville. They have four children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.