[citation needed] Williams ruled in a 1997 case involving public access to the Narragansett Town Beach.

[5] In 2003, President Bush appointed Williams through the Secretary of Defense to be a member of the United States Court of Military Commission Review.

Williams has been involved with numerous aspects of Abraham Lincoln scholarship and collection for much of his life, beginning in his own boyhood.

[7] This eventually grew into a collection of thousands of books, documents, pieces of artwork, and other items that he kept in his home library.

He is an Associate Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, an organization founded by Union officers who served during the American Civil War.

[13] In 2017, he and his wife Virginia donated their collection of Lincoln- and Civil War-related books and other materials to Mississippi State University.

Williams is also an accomplished amateur chef, and appeared as a guest on the cooking show, Ciao Italia, with Mary Ann Esposito.