[1] His father, Herman Clarence Nixon, was a political scientist at Vanderbilt University and a member of the Southern Agrarians.

[1][3] In September 1963, he was commissioned a second lieutenant while serving with the 405th Civil Affairs Group where he was assigned to the legal section.

[1] He was a trial attorney of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice from 1964 to 1969.

[1] He then served as a staff attorney of Office of the State Comptroller in Tennessee from 1971 to 1976.

[1] He took inactive senior status in 2016, meaning that while he remained a federal judge, he no longer heard cases or participated in the business of the court.