User Profile

I am a native of Etowah County, Alabama. I graduated from Etowah High School in 1965 and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1969 from the United States Military Academy at West Point then I returned to Alabama, where I completed my Juris Doctorate Degree in 1977 from The University of Alabama School of Law.

I served our country as a Captain in the Military Police Corps of the United States Army. I also served as Battalion Staff Officer at Ft. Riley, Kansas, and as a Company Commander in Vietnam. During my professional career, I became the first full-time Deputy District Attorney in Etowah County and served in this position from 1977 until 1982. I returned to private law practice in Gadsden, until I was elected Circuit Judge, Place Number One of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit in Gadsden. I served in this capacity from 1992 until my election as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama.

I have received a number of national honors during my career. In 1995, I was presented with the George Washington Honor Medal from the National Freedom Foundation in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. In 1997 I received the Bill of Rights award, the Christian Statesman of the Year Award, the Spirit of America Founders Award and the God and Country Award. I continued to be honored in 1998 by the United States Taxpayer's Party, who presented me with the Andrew Jackson Champion of Liberty Award. Kentucky Governor Paul Patton awarded me with the highest honor awarded by the State of Kentucky and the Delaware House of Representatives honored me with Resolution No. 47. That same year, the State of California Republican Assembly endorsed me by formal resolution at their annual convention calling me a "tireless defender of individual freedom and liberties."

In 1999, I received the Family, Faith, and Freedom Citation presented by the Family Research Council in Washington, DC. I also received the 1999 National Spirit of Life Award from the African American Family Association and Michigan Governor John Engler and the State of Michigan presented me with a special tribute, calling me, "a great American and an honorable judge." I have appeared on the Today Show, 20/20, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News, CHH, CBN's "700 Club", Dr. D. James Kennedy's "Coral Ridge Hour", James Dobson's "Focus on the Family", C-Span, and other numerous national and regional radio and television programs. Articles concerning my career have appeared in USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Times, the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle, the Atlanta Constitution, and others.

I have authored numerous articles, and poetry. Among my selected writings are "Religion In The Public Square", published by Cumberland Law Review, Cumberland School of Law, Volume 29, No.2, 1998-1999, and "Putting God Back in the Public Square", Imprimis, Hillsdale College, Volume 28, No. 8, August, 1999. This is, of course, all a joke, nothing in this journal is real and should be considered satire.