Terry Lucas Butts (born February 15, 1944) is an Alabama lawyer, politician, and judge who served as a justice of the

Supreme Court of Alabama The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the U.S. state, state of Alabama. The court consists of a Chief Justice, chief justice and eight Associate Justice, associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for stagge ...

from 1994 to 1998.

Early life, education, and career

Born in Patsburg,

Crenshaw County, Alabama Crenshaw County is a county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is located immediately south of the Montgomery metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,194. Its county seat is Luverne. ...

,Election '94 - Associate Justice
, ''The Anniston Star'' (November 4, 1994), Election '94 special section, p. 11. to Ezra Lucas Butts and Nata Watson Butts, Butts received a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Troy University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. It was one ...

, followed by a J.D. 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 the only public law school in the state. It is one of five law schools in the ...

in 1968.Attorney General
, ''The Huntsville Times'' (October 30, 1998), p. S-4. He engaged in private practice for eight years.

Judicial service and later life

He served a five-year term as a city judge in

Elba, Alabama Elba is a city in and the county seat of Coffee County, Alabama, United States. It is the official seat, although there are two county courthouses, with the other one being located in the city of Enterprise. At the time of the 2020 US Census, ...

, and served as county judge for

Coffee County, Alabama Coffee County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,465. Its name is in honor of General John Coffee. Coffee County comprises the Enterprise, Micropolitan S ...

, before being elected as a circuit judge for Pike and Coffee counties three times, being the presiding judge of the circuit for the last several years. In 1994, Butts ran as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

for a seat on the

vacated by the retirement of Justice Henry B. Steagall II, winning election to the office. He was the first person from Crenshaw County to serve on the court. Butts retired from the court in 1998, running for

Attorney General of Alabama The attorney general of Alabama is an elected, constitutional officer of the State of Alabama. The office of the attorney general is located at the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama. Henry Hitchcock was elected Alabama's first attorney general ...

that same year, which he lost to William H. Pryor Jr. In 2004, when Justice

Roy Moore Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed from office for judic ...

was fighting his expulsion from a seat on the state supreme court, Butts was one of the leading members of Moore's legal team. In 2017, it was speculated that Butts might run for a seat in the state senate, though this did not materialize. In 2023, the Troy University Alumni Association announced that Butts would serve as legal counsel to its board of directors.

Personal life

Butts married his wife Suzanne, with whom he had two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butts, Terry L. 1944 births People from Crenshaw County, Alabama Troy University alumni University of Alabama School of Law alumni Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama Living people 20th-century Alabama state court judges