Lyn Stuart (born c. 1955) is an American jurist and the first Republican woman Chief Justice of Alabama and the second woman to hold the office. She was first appointed by Alabama Governor
Kay Ivey
Kay Ellen Ivey (born October 15, 1944) is an American politician serving as the 54th and incumbent governor of Alabama since 2017. Originally a conservative Southern Democrat, Ivey became a member of the Republican Party in 2002. She was the 38th ...
as "acting" Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of Alabama
The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six-year terms. The Supreme Court is hous ...
on May 6, 2016, when her predecessor,
Roy Moore
Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as the 27th and 31st chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed fr ...
, was suspended from office.
At the time of her initial appointment, she had been an associate justice of the Alabama Supreme Court since 2001, which was the longest tenure for any Republican in the Court's history. She had been thrice elected as an associate justice in 2000, 2006, and 2012.
In September 2016, Moore's suspension was made permanent, and he resigned in April 2017. Upon Moore's actual resignation she was named by Governor Ivey as chief justice on April 26, 2017, without the "acting" title. She sought election to a full six-year term in the Republican Primary on June 5, 2018. However, she lost the Republican nomination for Chief Justice by a relatively narrow 18,826 votes out of more than 514,000 cast. This translated to a percentage 52%-48% loss to Associate Justice
Tom Parker.
[Alabama Secretary of State, election results, June 5, 2018]
Background
Born in
Atmore, Alabama, she earned her
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree in sociology and education from
Auburn University in 1977 and her
Juris Doctor degree from the
University of Alabama School of Law
The University of Alabama School of Law, (formerly known as the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law at The University of Alabama) located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama is a nationally ranked top-tier law school and the only public law school in the st ...
in 1980.
She served as secretary of the Student Bar Association, was a member of the John A. Campbell Moot Court Board, and received the Dean's Service Award at graduation.
She served as an Alabama Assistant Attorney General under
Charles Graddick
Charles Allen Graddick Sr. (born December 10, 1944 in Mobile), was the 42nd Attorney General of Alabama from 1979–1987. He later served as a Judge of the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of the U.S. state of Alabama.
Background
Graddick graduat ...
. In 1988 and 1994 she was elected as a District Court Judge in Baldwin County, Alabama. In January 1997, she was appointed as a Circuit Judge by Governor
Fob James
Forrest Hood "Fob" James Jr. (born September 15, 1934) is an American civil engineer, entrepreneur, football player, and politician. He served as the 48th governor of Alabama, first as a Democrat, 1979–1983, and secondly as a Republican, 199 ...
and re-elected without opposition in 1998. She resigned as a Circuit Judge upon her election to the Alabama Supreme Court.
Stuart and her husband, George, have two sons and a daughter.
References
External links
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1955 births
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges
Alabama Republicans
Methodists from Alabama
Auburn University alumni
Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama
Date of birth missing (living people)
Living people
People from Atmore, Alabama
Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama
University of Alabama alumni
Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States
20th-century American women judges
21st-century American women judges
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