Thomas Woodall (Alabama)
Thomas A. (Tom) Woodall was an associate justice on the Alabama Supreme Court. He was elected to the court in the state's partisan elections in 2001 and is one of nine Republicans on the nine member court. He was first elected to a six-year term on the court in 2000, and was then re-elected in 2006. He retired at the end of his term in 2012.[1]
Education
Justice Woodall graduated magna cum laude from Millsaps College in 1972 with a B.A. degree in history. He earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975.[2]
Professional career
Following his admission the bar in 1975, Woodall worked with the law firm Rives and Peterson. Leaving in 1991, he started the firm Woodall and Maddox, where he practiced for 5 years. In February 1996, Governor Fob James appointed Justice Woodall as a Circuit Court Judge in Jefferson County. He was elected to that position in 1998, after running unopposed. In 2000, Justice Woodall was elected Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.[2]
Awards and associations
Awards
- Top 40 Under 40, Birmingham Business Journal, 1989
- Recognition Award, Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities
- National Merit Semifinalist
Associations
- Member, Omicron Delta Kappa
- Member, Eta Sigma
- Member, American Board of Trial Advocates
- Member, Executive Committee, Birmingham Bar Association
- Member, Alabama Pattern Jury Instruction-Civil Committee, 1985-2001
- Vice Chairman, Alabama Pattern Jury Instruction-Civil Committee, 1992-2001
- Chair, Grievance Committee, Birmingham Bar Association
- Chair, Civil Courts Procedures Committee, Birmingham Bar Association
- Chair, Membership Committee, Birmingham Bar Association
- Chair, Lawyer Referral Service Committee, Birmingham Bar Association
- Fellow, Alabama Law Foundation[2]
Election
2006 Elections
Woodall was re-elected to the court in 2006.[3][4]
| Candidate | Incumbent | Seat | Party | Primary % | Election % |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thomas Woodall  |
Yes | Place 2 | Republican | 71.6% | 56.7% | |
| Gwendolyn Thomas Kennedy | No | Place 2 | Democratic | 43.2% | ||
| Hank Fowler | No | Place 2 | Republican | 100,565 |
2000 Campaign
In the 2000 election for the Alabama Supreme Court, Thomas Woodall defeated John England. Woodall raised $1,241,722 raised during the campaign. General Business was the primary industry contributor with $620,475, or 49.97% of the total. The second industry contributor is Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate with $140,605, or 11.32% of the total. The third contributor is the Republican Party with $116,102, or 9.35 percent of the total.[5] For a complete summary, please visit Follow the Money: Thomas Woodall 2000.
Noteworthy cases
Alabama court sides with governor in budget fight
The Alabama Supreme Court filled a $63 million hole in the state General Fund budget Thursday by siding with Governor Bob Riley in a dispute over use of funds won in a court case. Tuscaloosa businessman Stan Pate had sued the governor, contending Riley erred when he put the money from Exxon Mobil Corp. litigation into the state General Fund. Montgomery County Circuit Judge William A. Shashy sided with Pate in April, holding that the $63 million should go into a state savings account called the Alabama Trust Fund. Without dissent, however, the Supreme Court vacated Shashy's decision and said Pate didn't have legal standing to bring the suit.
"Pate's claim of standing as a taxpayer must fail because the Trust Fund receives no tax revenue; it is funded only from royalties from the production of oil and gas under offshore leases," Justice Thomas Woodall wrote.
At issue was part of the $121.5 million that the state government received from Exxon Mobil in litigation over natural gas wells the company drilled in state-owned waters along the Alabama coast. Nearly half of the amount was compensatory damages for royalties that weren't paid by the oil company, and the remainder was a penalty. Riley put $58.2 million in compensatory damages into the Alabama Trust Fund, but he put $63.3 million from the penalty into the General Fund to help balance next year's budget during an economic slowdown. Pate's attorneys argued that the state constitution required Riley to put the entire amount into the trust fund to be saved for future generations. The state attorney general's office argued on Riley's behalf that his action was correct. Shashy ruled against Riley as the Legislature was trying to wrap up work on the General Fund budget for next year.[6]
Alabama's top judge defiant on commandments' display
By the morning of August 21, 2003, Chief Justice Roy Moore of Alabama was to have removed the 5,280-pound monument of the Ten Commandments that he secretly installed one night in the lobby of the State Supreme Court. A federal judge had ruled that the granite block, known as Roy's Rock, violated the separation of church and state. He had said, "If they want to get the commandments, they're going to have to get me first." Federal officials have decided that fines, not force, are the best way to deal with the monument. Justice Moore lost a last-ditch appeal to the United States Supreme Court, hurtling him head-on into a conflict with a federal judge who has threatened to make him pay $5,000 for every day that the Ten Commandments remain in public view.
Judge Myron Thompson of Federal District Court, who presided over this case brought by several civil liberties groups, tried to take the path of least resistance. Nine months prior, Judge Thompson ruled that placing a 4-foot-tall stone block of the Ten Commandments in the court's lobby was "nothing less than an obtrusive year-round religious display." Associate Justice Thomas Woodall of the Alabama Supreme Court discussed the possibility that a majority of judges could vote to remove Justice Moore's administrative power over the building and have the monument carted away. "That has been discussed," Justice Woodall said. "A lot."[7]
Political ideology
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Woodall received a campaign finance score of 0.62, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was less conservative than the average score of 0.79 that justices received in Alabama.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[8]
See also
External links
- Woodall Election Promo: Baldwin and Associates Website
- Follow the Money: Thomas Woodall
- Alabama Judicial System Online: Thomas Woodall
- Alabama Judicial System
- NNBD
- Members of the Court
Footnotes
- ↑ The Anniston Star, "Circuit Judge Debra Jones to seek Alabama Supreme Court seat," January 10, 2012
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Alabama Unified Judicial System, Thomas Woodall
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, 2006 General Election Results
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, 2006 Primary Election Results
- ↑ Follow the Money: Thomas Woodall 2000
- ↑ Microsoft News
- ↑ New York Times
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
Federal courts:
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Alabama, Middle District of Alabama, Southern District of Alabama • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Alabama, Middle District of Alabama, Southern District of Alabama
State courts:
Alabama Supreme Court • Alabama Court of Civil Appeals • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals • Alabama Circuit Courts • Alabama District Courts • Alabama Juvenile Courts • Alabama Municipal Courts • Alabama Probate Courts • Alabama Small Claims Courts
State resources:
Courts in Alabama • Alabama judicial elections • Judicial selection in Alabama
