Walter T. Cox III

Walter T. Cox III (born August 13, 1942) is an American lawyer who serves as a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces from 1984 to 1999.

Walter Thompson Cox III was born on August 13, 1942, in Anderson, South Carolina, the son of Walter Thompson Cox, Jr., an official at Clemson University for almost fifty years. He attended D. W. Daniel High School in Clemson and became an Eagle Scout. He joined the army in May 1964 and attended the Defense Language Institute and then served as the Liaison Officer to the Minister of Justice for the State of Bavaria and as the Liaison Officer to the American Embassy in Austria. He left the army in January 1973. It also recommended an examination of the military's rape and sodomy codes.

In 2009, he chaired a second commission, a group of eight that made seven recommendations largely addressing the courts-martial and appeals process, as well as advocating the repeal of Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (sodomy).

Cox teaches criminal law at the Charleston School of Law.

The Judge Advocates Association sponsors the annual Walter T. Cox III Symposium on Military History named in his honor.

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded Cox the Distinguished Civilian Service Award.

Cox is of counsel to Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Charleston.