Thomas Woodall
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Thomas A. (Tom) Woodall has served on the Alabama Supreme Court since 2001. He was first elected to a six-year term on the court in 2000, and then again in 2006. His current term expires in 2012.
Alabama is one of eight states that picks state supreme court justices in partisan elections; Woodall has run for the office as a Republican.
Legal Education and Experience
Legal Education
Justice Woodall graduated magna cum laude from Millsaps College in 1972 with a B.A. degree in history. At Millsaps, Justice Woodall was inducted into several honorary societies, including Omicron Delta Kappa (leadership), Eta Sigma (scholarship) and Phi Alpha Theta (history). Also, he was recognized by Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities.
Justice Woodall received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975. While in law school, he was employed as an editor at the Michie Company where he was involved in revising or updating several legal publications, including the Colorado Code, Tennessee Digest and Michie's Jurisprudence of Virginia and West Virginia Law.
Legal Experience
In 1975, Justice Woodall became employed by the Birmingham firm of Rives and Peterson where he remained until 1991. He served on that firm's first executive committee and then served as its managing partner.From 1991 to 1996, Justice Woodall practiced with the Birmingham firm of Woodall and Maddox, P.C. His practice was devoted to civil litigation in state and federal trial and appellate courts.
In February 1996, Governor Fob James appointed Justice Woodall a Circuit Judge in Jefferson County. He was elected in 1998 without primary or general election opposition. In 2000, Justice Woodall was elected Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and he took office in January 2001.
Awards and Associations
Justice Woodall was recognized in 1989 by the Birmingham Business Journal as one of its "Top 40 Under 40." Justice Woodall has been very active in professional activities. He was elected to serve on the executive committee of the Birmingham Bar Association and chaired the association's Grievance, Civil Courts Procedures, Membership and Lawyer Referral Service Committees. He served on the Alabama Pattern Jury Instruction-Civil Committee from his appointment by the Alabama Supreme Court in 1985 until his election to the Supreme Court. From 1992 until 2001, he served as vice chairman of that committee. Justice Woodall has delivered many continuing legal education presentations focusing on insurance, trial practice, workers' compensation, legal ethics and other issues.
Political Affiliation Campaign Contributions
2000 Campaign
In the 2000 campaign, Thomas Woodall won the election with $1,241,722 raised for 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% of the total.[2] For a complete summary, please visit Follow the Money: Thomas Woodall 2000.
2008 Campaign
In 2008, Woodall has raised $3,503, even though he is not up for election.[3]
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 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.[4]
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 H. 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."[5]
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
