Thomas R. Jones (judge)

Thomas Russell Jones, Jr. (August 5, 1913 – October 27, 2006) was an African-American member of the New York State Assembly, a Justice of the New York Supreme Court, and a leading civil rights activist for Black Americans in slums of northern cities.

Jones graduated from St. John's University and from St. John's University School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1938. He worked as an activist in anti-fascism, and in 1941 enlisted in the U.S. Army. As a first lieutenant he participated in the Normandy invasion in 1944. Upon returning to New York, Jones became chief council for the local NAACP branch, mainly involved in cases of police brutality. In 1955, Jones defended three Chinese immigrant workers who had been convicted and sentenced to prison for sedition for "helping Communist China" because they had been sending money home to relatives there. The United States Supreme Court declined to hear their appeal. In 1980, Jones delivered a speech in Beijing about the case and the American legal system.

Jones was a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly (Kings County, 10th District) in 1963 and 1964. In November 1964, he was elected to the New York City Civil Court, and in November 1967 to the New York Supreme Court.

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