James Shelton Moody Jr. (born March 31, 1947) is a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida (in case citations, M.D. Fla.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against ...

. Prior to serving on the federal court, he was as a Florida circuit court judge for five years and was a private practice lawyer. Confirmation hearings on federal appointments : hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, on confirmation of appointees to the federal judiciary. 4.J 89/2:S.HRG.106-399/ pt.3 (2000)

Education and career

Moody was born in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. He received his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in 1969 and his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

Fredric G. Levin College of Law The University of Florida Levin College of Law (UF Law) is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida and second oldest overall in the stat ...

at the University of Florida in 1972. He is a member of

Florida Blue Key Florida Blue Key is a student leadership honor society at the University of Florida. It was founded in 1923. The organization is the oldest and most prestigious leadership honorary in the state of Florida. Members include notable politicians an ...

. From 1969 to 1972, he was a circulation manager for student publications at the

. Moody was in private practice in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

from 1972 to 1994. From 1983 to 1994, he served as Director of the Hillsboro SunTrust Bank. From 1993 to 1998, he served as director of the United Way of Hillsborough County. From 1985 to 1997, he served as director of the United Way of East Hillsborough County. From 1982 to 1994, he served as vice president and later director of Moody & Moody, Inc. He was elected circuit judge of Florida's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit ( Hillsborough County), serving from 1995 to 2000.

Federal judicial service

President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

nominated Moody to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on June 8, 2000, to a new seat created by 113 Stat. 1501. He was confirmed by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on July 21, 2000, and he received his commission on July 28, 2000. He assumed senior status on March 31, 2014. One notable case that he handled was that of

Sami Al-Arian Sami Amin Al-Arian (; born January 14, 1958) is a Kuwaiti-born political activist of Palestinian origin who was a computer engineering professor at University of South Florida. During the Clinton administration and Bush administration, he was ...

, whom he sentenced to the maximum 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release on May 1, 2006, for aiding a terrorist organization, the

Palestine Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsho ...

Personal life

Moody's daughter,

Ashley Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsċ'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

, was elected

Attorney General of Florida The Florida attorney general is an elected cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state, and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs. The office is one of Florida's ...

in the 2018 election and appointed by Gov.

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician, attorney, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the 46th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Pa ...

to fill the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

seat vacated by

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...

in 2025. His son, James S. Moody III, was appointed as a Florida circuit court judge by Gov. DeSantis in 2022.

References

Sources

*
Official profile
from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida {{DEFAULTSORT:Moody, James S. Jr. 1947 births Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida Living people Lawyers from Tampa, Florida United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton University of Florida alumni Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni Florida state court judges 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges