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Alfred Theodore Goodwin

Alfred Theodore Goodwin

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Born 1923 in Bellingham, WA

Died 2022 in Bend, OR

FJC ID: 883

Career output and lasting influence

Opinions attributed per year · peak 25/year

Oregon District Court · 1969–1971Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1971–20221969198019902000201020202025250
opinions

Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 557/year

Oregon District Court · 1969–1971Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1971–202219691980199020002010202020255570
citing decisions

Oregon District Court · 1969–1971Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1971–2022

Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.

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Alfred Theodore Goodwin (June 29, 1923 – December 27, 2022) was an American jurist who was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and also a district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. Goodwin wrote the majority opinion for the Ninth Circuit in the famous pledge of allegiance case that was decided by the United States Supreme Court as Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow. Goodwin found that the recitation of the Pledge with the words "under God" violated the Establishment Clause, but the Supreme Court reversed his ruling. Goodwin famously wrote, "A profession that we are a nation 'under God' is identical, for Establishment Clause purposes, to a profession that we are a nation 'under Jesus,' a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a nation 'under no god,' because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion."

Full biography on Wikipedia ↗
Gender
Male
Race
White

Prior employment

  1. Judicial Conference of the United States
    Member · 1988–1990
  2. JAG Corps
    JAG Corps
    U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel · 1960–1969
  3. Supreme Court of Oregon
    Justice · 1960–1969
  4. Oregon Circuit Court
    Judge · 1955–1960
  5. Private practice, Eugene, Oregon
    1951–1955
  6. U.S. Army captain
    1943–1946

Appointments

  1. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
    U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitChief Judge
    1971–2022 · Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)
    Term ended: Death
  2. Oregon District Court
    U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon
    1969–1971 · Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)
    Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position

Education

  1. University of Oregon
    jd
  2. University of Oregon School of Law
    University of Oregon School of Law
    J.D. · 1951
  3. University of Oregon
    B.A. · 1947