Bill Waller Jr.

Waller was a candidate for Governor of Mississippi in the 2019 primary election. Failing to achieve 50 percent of the vote in the primary, two candidates – Waller and lieutenant governor Tate Reeves – were forced into a runoff, where Reeves won with 54 percent.

In March 2018, Chief Justice Waller and Justice King dissented when the majority of the Mississippi Supreme Court found that sentencing a juvenile to life without parole did not violate Miller v. Alabama (2012).

Waller has sought to bring reforms in the administration of justice. He supported adoption by the Supreme Court of mediation rules for civil litigation and served as chairman of the Mississippi Public Defender Task Force from 2000 to 2005. Waller was principal architect of what became legislation that created the Office of Capital Post Conviction Counsel, the Office of Indigent Appeals and the Comprehensive Electronic Court Systems Fund. Waller served as chairman of the Supreme Court Rules Committee from 2001 to 2008. In 2012, he led efforts that resulted in the passage of judicial compensation reform legislation.

Waller practiced law with the firm of Waller and Waller in Jackson for over 20 years and served as a Municipal Judge for the City of Jackson. Waller was elected to the Mississippi Supreme Court in November 1996, for a term beginning in January 1998. He won reelection in November 2004. He served as a Presiding Justice from January 2004 until December 2008, and assumed the position of Chief Justice in January 2009.

Waller, a native and current resident of Jackson, Mississippi, is the son of William "Bill" Waller. Sr., the Governor of Mississippi from 1972 to 1976, and Carroll Waller. The junior Waller graduated from Murrah High School and Mississippi State University in 1974, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He received his J.D. degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1977.

Presently assigned to the Retired Reserve, Justice Waller attained the rank of Brigadier General while serving as Commander of the 66th Troop Command, Mississippi Army National Guard, Jackson, Mississippi.

William Lowe Waller Jr. (born February 9, 1952) served on the Supreme Court of Mississippi for 21 years, and as Chief Justice for 10 years, before retiring in 2019. Waller was a Republican candidate for Governor of Mississippi in the 2019 primary election, but was defeated by lieutenant governor Tate Reeves.