He was in the United States Army, JAG Corps, from 1973 to 1977, attaining the rank of captain.
He thereafter remained in the United States Army Reserve, achieving the rank of colonel.
He was an Assistant United States Attorney of the Eastern District of Virginia from 1977 to 1993, and was an adjunct lecturer at the College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, from 1981 to 1991 and in 1993.
On September 24, 1993, Jackson was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated by Richard Leroy Williams.
Their daughter Candace Jackson-Akiwumi is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.