He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Davidson College in 1970 and his Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1973.

He practiced private law in Greenville from 1973 to 1974 before working as a criminal prosecutor in the Office of the solicitor for South Carolina's 13th Judicial Circuit from 1975 to 1981.

He ruled that defendant Mullins District 2 acted illegally in firing a teacher for exercising free speech in criticizing her superintendent and school board.

On July 10, 1998, President Bill Clinton nominated Traxler to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to replace Judge Donald Stuart Russell, who had died on February 22, 1998.

[2] In February 2013, Chief Justice John Roberts named Traxler the chair of the executive committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.