---
title: "Jim Jones | KnowJudges"
canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/jim-jones-4158"
page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-10-07"
---

# Jim Jones

Supreme Court of Idaho · Judge

## Profile

- Court: Supreme Court of Idaho
- State: Idaho
- Role: Judge
- Service status: former
- Last verified: 2026-08-22

## Summary

Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge.

## Biography

### Professional career

- Judge, Idaho Supreme Court, 2004-present
- Vietnam combat veteran, Idaho attorney general from 1983 to 1991 and Idaho Supreme Court justice from 2005 to 2017
- In 1982, he was elected Idaho’s Attorney General as a Republican and was re-elected unopposed in 1986 Jones later served on the Idaho Supreme Court, eventually becoming Chief Justice
- Jim Jones’s career spans military service, legal practice, political office, and judicial leadership
- He is notable not only for his role as Idaho’s Attorney General and Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court but also for his ongoing advocacy for refugees and community engagement in Idaho

### Education

- Jones then received his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law in 1967.
- He graduated from Valley High School in 1960 and attended Idaho State University for a year before transferring to the University of Oregon, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1964.

### Additional information

- Elected to the court in the state's nonpartisan election of judges in 2004.
- He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in Idaho’s 2nd district in 1978 and 1980.
- After returning from military service, Jones served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Leonard Jordan in the early 1970s and practiced law in Jerome and Boise, Idaho.
- James Thomas Jones was born on May 13, 1942, in Twin Falls, Idaho, and raised on a farm near Eden, Idaho.
- Date of birth: 1942-05-13
- Drawing on his experiences as a Vietnam veteran, he has advocated for safe havens and community support for displaced individuals, educating and recruiting local communities to help refugees settle in the state
- He also held the role of a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Vietnam, earning the Army Commendation Medal and the Bronze Star for his service

## Before you appear

- Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed.
- Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance.
- Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding.

## Courtroom Rules

### electronic exhibit format

Scope: statewide

Idaho's statewide electronic-filing rule generally requires text-searchable PDF or PDF/A submissions and a 50 MB per-document limit; scanned-image attachments and exhibits may use standard PDF and are not rejected for the usual text-searchability format requirement.

Evidence excerpt: A document ... submitted electronically to the court must be in the form of a text-searchable Portable Document Format (PDF) or a text-searchable Portable Document Format/A (PDF/A) file ... and not exceed 50 megabytes. A document that is an attachment or exhibit ... may be in standard PDF format and need not be text searchable.

[Idaho Rules for Electronic Filing and Service, Rule 6](https://isc.idaho.gov/rules-procedure/irefs)
Source checked: 2026-07-27


## Sources

- [Official profile](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/4158/jim-jones/)
- [Official roster](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/4158/jim-jones/)
- [Supreme Court of Idaho current judicial profile](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/4158/jim-jones/)
- [Idaho Rules for Electronic Filing and Service, Rule 6](https://isc.idaho.gov/rules-procedure/irefs)
- [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/4158/jim-jones/)
- [Jim Jones - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Jim_Jones)
- [sitting_membership_end](https://isc.idaho.gov/about-the-courts/ica-judges)
- [idahocapitalsun.com](https://idahocapitalsun.com/author/jim-jones/)
- [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/4158/jim-jones/)
- [Jim Jones - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/Jim_Jones)

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