Bob Vance (jurist)
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April 10, 1961
Bob Vance | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Circuit Judge of Jefferson County, Alabama | |
| Assumed office November 4, 2002 | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Hanes Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Smith Vance Jr. April 10, 1961 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Joyce White Vance |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) | Robert Smith Vance Helen Hauk Rainey |
| Alma mater | Princeton University University of Virginia |
Robert Smith Vance Jr. (born April 10, 1961) is an American lawyer and jurist who is a circuit court judge on Alabama's 10th Judicial Circuit, located in Birmingham, Alabama.[1]
Vance was born on April 10, 1961, in Birmingham, Alabama. He attended Princeton University and the University of Virginia School of Law.[1]
Career
Vance clerked for Judge Thomas Gibbs Gee on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit before starting work at the Birmingham law firm Johnston, Barton, Proctor and Powell as a litigator.[1]
Alabama Circuit Court Judge
Vance was first appointed to the bench to serve out the term of Judge Art Hanes in 2002 and subsequently elected to a full term. He was reelected in 2010, without opposition.[2]
In 2006, in Gooden v. Worley, a case that challenged the Alabama law that removed the right to vote from those convicted of felonies of moral turpitude, Vance ordered the state of Alabama to allow ex-felons to vote, holding that the law failed to identify the crimes that fit the definition.[3] Vance was reversed on appeal to the Supreme Court of Alabama.
Campaign for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama
Vance ran unsuccessfully for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama in 2012.[4] He reluctantly entered the race in August 2012, after the former Democratic candidate Harry Lyon was disqualified from the ballot in large part due to erratic behavior and rants against gays and lesbians.[4][5] His opponent was former Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had previously been removed from the bench for failing to follow an order from the federal district court to remove a religious monument he had installed in the rotunda of the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building.[4] At the time Vance entered the race, there were no statewide elected Democrats in the state of Alabama.[6] Despite low expectations, Vance was barely defeated by Roy Moore in the general election on November 6, receiving 48.23% of the vote.[4]
Vance was the nominee for Chief Justice in 2018, but his bid was unsuccessful.