John Cooper Godbold (March 24, 1920 – December 22, 2009) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Education and career

Born in Coy, Alabama, Godbold received a Bachelor of Science degree from Auburn University in 1940 and was a Major in the United States Army, Division Artillery Headquarters during World War II, from 1941 to 1946. He received a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1948, and was in private practice in Montgomery, Alabama from 1948 to 1966.

Federal judicial service

Godbold was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 28, 1966, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated by Judge Richard Rives. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 22, 1966, and received his commission the same day. He served as a board member of the Federal Judicial Center from 1976 to 1981. He served as Chief Judge from February 2, 1981, until he was reassigned by operation of law to the newly formed United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on October 1, 1981. He then served as its Chief Judge until September 3, 1986, when he stepped down several days before Judge Paul Hitch Roney's eligibility for the chief judgeship was set to expire. He assumed senior status on October 23, 1987. He was Director of the Federal Judicial Center from 1987 to 1990. His service terminated on December 22, 2009, due to his death in Montgomery.

Other service

Concurrent with his federal judicial service, Godbold was a professor of law at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University from 1990 until his death.

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