For more than 45 years, William John Cox has written extensively on law, politics, philosophy, and the human condition. During that time, he vigorously pursued a career in law enforcement, public policy, and the law.
As a police officer, he was an early leader in the "New Breed" movement to professionalize law enforcement. Cox wrote the Policy Manual of the Los Angeles Police Department and the introductory chapters of the Police Task Force Report of the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, which continues to define the role of the police in America.
As an attorney, Cox worked for the U.S. Department of Justice to implement national 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.
He wrote notable law review articles and legal briefs in major cases, tried a number of jury trials and argued cases in the superior and appellate courts that made law.
Professionally, 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. As a remedy, Cox urged the Court to require national policy referendums to be held in conjunction with presidential elections.
In 1981, representing a Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, Cox investigated and successfully sued a group of radical right-wing organizations which denied the Holocaust. The case was the subject of the Turner Network Television motion picture, Never Forget.
Cox later represented a secret client and arranged the publication of almost 1,800 photographs of ancient manuscripts that had been kept from the public for more than 40 years. A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls was published in November 1991. His role in that effort is described by historian Neil Asher Silberman in The Hidden Scrolls: Christianity, Judaism, and the War for the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Cox concluded his legal career as a Supervising Trial Counsel for the State Bar of California. There, he led a team of attorneys and investigators which prosecuted attorneys accused of serious misconduct and criminal gangs engaged in the illegal practice of law. He retired in 2007.
Continuing to concentrate on political and social issues since his retirement, Cox has lectured, taught classes at the university level, produced a series of articles and books, moderated several Internet websites and maintained an extensive worldwide correspondence. His primary initiative is the United States Voters' Rights Amendment (www.usvra.us & www.y4vra.org).
For more background see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_John_Cox.
