Supreme Court of Alabama
Chief Justices
The Alabama Supreme Court has had an unusually high turnover in the Chief Justice position going back to October, 1995. Since then the post will have been occupied by eight different individuals for nine different time periods. Not one of these individuals has completed an entire term of six years. Perry Hooper Sr. (1995–2001), elected in 1994, did not assume the office until October, 1995 after a protracted election contest that prevented him from taking office until nine months into the term. He was succeeded by Roy Moore (2001–2003) who was elected in 2000 but removed from office due to violations of the judicial canon of ethics. He was succeeded first temporarily by Associate Justice Gorman Houston during Moore's suspension but before his actual removal from office. After Moore vacated the office, the Governor appointed Drayton Nabers Jr. (2004–2007). Chief Justice Nabers was defeated for re-election by Sue Bell Cobb (2007–2011) in 2006, and who in turn resigned for personal reasons in the middle of her term. Her replacement, Chuck Malone (2011–2013) was appointed on August 1, 2011 by Governor Robert Bentley but was defeated for re-nomination by former Chief Justice Roy Moore (2013–2017) in 2012. Moore assumed the office a second time beginning on January, 2013 and was again suspended from office in May 6, 2016 by the Court of the Judiciary. This allowed Associate Justice Lyn Stuart to then become acting Chief Justice. Lyn Stuart became Chief Justice on April 26, 2017 when Moore formally resigned from the seat from which he was already suspended. This allowed him to seek election to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions for which a special election was held in December, 2017.
Supreme Court of Alabama-10