William John Cox

For more than 45 years, William John Cox has written extensively on law, politics, philosophy, and the human condition. During this time, he has vigorously pursued a career in law enforcement, public policy, and the law. As a young police officer, Cox wrote the Role of the Police in America as a part of the “New Breed” movement to define and professionalize law enforcement. As an attorney, he worked for the U.S. Department of Justice to implement national criminal justice standards and goals, prosecuted cases for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and operated a public interest law practice primarily dedicated to the defense of young people. Cox volunteered pro bono services in several landmark legal cases. In 1979, he filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of all citizens directly in the U.S. Supreme Court alleging that the government no longer represented the voters who elected it. In 1981, representing a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, Cox investigated and successfully sued a group of radical right-wing organizations that denied the Holocaust. He later represented a secret client and arranged the publication of almost 1,800 photographs of ancient Dead Sea Scrolls that had been suppressed for more than 40 years. Cox concluded his legal career in 2007 as a Supervising Trial Counsel for the State Bar of California, where he prosecuted unethical lawyers and criminal gangs engaged in the illegal practice of law. Continuing to contemplate public policy, political, and philosophical matters since his retirement, Cox has been writing books and creating Internet websites. His digital autobiography is at WilliamJohnCox.com.