Statistical Information:
Born: 19 September 1919
Died: 18 January 1997
Served on the Supreme Court of Washington State 1985-1988.
Began writing the Goodloe Report in 1988.
Started Judicial Forum in 1992 and chaired it until 1996.
Biographical Sketch:
Justice William C. Goodloe retired from the Washington State Supreme Court in 1988. He was a trial judge on the Superior Court of King County for 12 years and a Washington State Senator for 8 years, during which time he was a minority floor leader, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and author and sponsor of Senate Bill 362 (1955) creating Seattle's World Fair. Justice Goodloe served 5 years in the Navy during World War II serving in all theatres of war. He was Honorary Consul of Ecuador and President of the Pacific Rim Institute. He was past president of the State Society, Sons of the American Revolution; past governor of the Washington State Society of Mayflower Descendents; and he was a member of the Society of the Cincinatti, whose founder and first president was George Washington.
He was born in Kentucky and raised in California. His maternal grandfather was the Hon. John L. Wilson, a U.S. Senator from Washington State. His paternal grandfather was the Hon. William C. Goodloe, minister to Belgium under President Lincoln. His great-grand uncle was the Hon. Henry Clay. Another was the Hon. John Speed, who was Lincoln's Attorney General. Another was the Hon. Cassius M. Clay, Lincoln's principle campaign orator in the southern states, later appointed minister to Russia by Lincoln.
On every issue of the monthly Goodloe Report was this excerpt from the Declaration of Independence:
IN CONGRESS July 4, 1776 THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WHEN IN THE COURSE of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation; We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. . . He (King of Great Britain) has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
Eulogy by Justice Richard Sanders
MEMORIAL SERVICE
In Honor of
WILLIAM CASSIUS GOODLOE, III
1919-1997
Held in the Courtroom of the Supreme Court of Washington
May 8, 1997
Olympia, Washington
Eulogy By Justice Richard B. Sanders Supreme Court of Washington
Ultimately the role of the judge is to provide justice to those who seek it. It is difficult to do justice to Justice Goodloe in the few minutes allotted. Justice Goodloe always did his best to do justice for others but he did much more. He was a loving husband to his wife, Ruth, over the 55 years of their marriage; he was a good father to his seven children, a wonderful man to know as a friend, and a principled public figure.
Bill was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on September 19, 1919. He married his wife, Ruth, 22 years later to the day, on his birthday, September 19, 1941. Shortly after his marriage came Pearl Harbor Day, the first Pearl Harbor Day. Bill, in the Naval Reserve, was called to active duty. He went up through the enlisted ranks to become a Naval officer. Because of his oral eloquence he was asked, or was it ordered, by Admiral Halsey, to announce the orders of the day on Admiral Halsey’s behalf. Bill was proud of his service in the Navy.
In 1943 their first son was born, William Goodloe, IV. Bill cannot be with us today. In 1945 Gwendolyn was born. Gwendolyn and I were born in the same year. Bill could have been my dad; my dad was also born in 1919. The next year Richard was born, and then came Gerald, David, Mary, and Janette. Please stand and be recognized. Most men would be satisfied with a marriage of 55 years, 7 children, and 21 grandchildren. Are the grandchildren here? Please be recognized. Although Bill would probably say this was his greatest accomplishment, I think we should also recognize some of his lesser ones—those which would be “majors” for anyone else.
Justice Goodloe graduated from the UW Law School in 1948. He was a trial lawyer for 24 years, served on the King County Superior Court for 12 years, and then for 3 and one half years on the Washington State Supreme Court after winning a contested election which he financed on a shoestring.
I remember trying a case to Judge Goodloe when he was on the King County Superior Court bench. I was a young attorney. We had known each other before then; I thought we were friends. But I lost. So much for friendship! Announcing his oral decision, Judge Goodloe explained why my client’s cause did not quite make the cut. He almost convinced me he was right. He had a convincing explanation for everything he did.
On this or perhaps another occasion, Justice Goodloe talked about an ornament he had in his courtroom pertaining to one of his ancestors, Cassius Marcellus Clay. No, this was not the boxer we’ve come to know as Muhammad Ali; however, Muhammad Ali, a Kentuckian, took his name from the same individual. Cassius Marcellus Clay was a distinguished historical figure, was appointed by Lincoln to be our ambassador to Russia, and took his nephew, Bill’s grandfather, William Cassius Goodloe the First, with him to St. Petersburg. Eventually William the First was appointed ambassador to Belgium, fought in the Civil War, obtaining the rank of Captain, but was ultimately killed in a duel to settle hard feelings over an election. These Goodloes take electioneering seriously. Unfortunately for William the First, the other duelist had a pistol whereas he had only a bowie knife. William the First lost the duel, but so did the other duelist. Both died.
Bill’s other grandfather was U.S. Senator John L. Wilson. Senator Wilson ultimately became co-owner of the Post Intelligencer. But Bill never complained the PI slanted news in his favor.
Bill spent the early years of his life in “Loudon,” a remarkable ancestral home which has now been turned into an art museum in Lexington, Kentucky.
Bill was interested in history, perhaps because his own family had so much of it. He was state president of the Sons of the American Revolution and state governor of the Society of Mayflower Descendants. He gave slide shows on famous early Americans and wrote articles on historical topics.
Besides family, Bill loved politics and principles. Family, politics, and principles seem to be a strange mix for these times, but Bill Goodloe was an exceptional man. He was State Republican Chairman in the ‘60s, served for eight years in the Washington State Senate, and, after his retirement from the bench, published the Goodloe Report, and again ran for a political office. While a Senator he was the sole sponsor of the original resolution to host the Seattle World’s Fair. The Goodloe Report was Bill’s candid assessment of what was going on in the courts. When you heard your name appeared in the Goodloe Report, Justice Goodloe immediately had your attention.
Bill also helped his friends. He helped me very much in my election to the Supreme Court and told me about his.
Justice William Goodloe authored 56 majority opinions while he was on the Supreme Court, 34 dissents, and 12 concurrences. There is a common strain that runs through these opinions and most of his endeavors in life. Justice Goodloe believed in personal freedom and saw it as his duty to give every litigant who appeared before him the full benefit of the law. But legislating was for the legislature, he said.
One of his majority opinions, of which I took particular note at the time of its publication, was Allingham v. City of Seattle. There Justice Goodloe opined, on behalf of a unanimous court, that the City of Seattle’s greenbelt ordinance violated the rights of property owners by taking a portion of their property without just compensation. Frankly, Allingham was my personal favorite. But as fate would have it I believe this was the only Supreme Court opinion he ever wrote which was subsequently overruled. However, even then it may well be that Justice Goodloe was simply ahead of his time, judging from recent opinions from the United States Supreme Court.
Before giving this presentation, I asked Justice Goodloe’s wife, Ruth, to tell me how Bill would like to be remembered. She said Bill wanted to be remembered as a devoted family man who spent his best summers on the Goodloe’s boat with the family in the San Juans. She said he even enjoyed the rain. She said he wanted to be remembered for his public service, that he enjoyed being a lawyer, enjoyed being a judge, and was very proud to serve as a Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court. I remember him as a good friend, a fun person to be around, and the man that married my wife and me almost 14 years ago. We that knew William Cassius Goodloe, III, were better for it. He did not die in pain, or in vain. The last time I saw him he told me his father was calling him home and he was ready to go. We miss him.
A Tribute by Professor Kelly Ross
The late Justice William C. Goodloe (1919-1997) of the Washington State Supreme Court, an advocate of jury nullification, suggested that the following instruction be given by judges to all juries in criminal cases:
You are instructed that this being a criminal case you are the exclusive judges of the evidence, the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given to their testimony, and you have a right also to determine the law in the case. The court does not intend to express any opinion concerning the weight of the evidence, but it is the duty of the court to advise you as to the law, and it is your duty to consider the instructions of the court; yet in your decision upon the merits of the case you have a right to determine for yourselves the law as well as the facts by which your verdict shall be governed.
Justice Goodloe was one of the rare judges who voluntarily surrendered part of the power that has improperly accrued to him in the interest of justice and of the system of trial by jury as this was understood by the Founders of the nation. – Kelley L Ross PhD [libertarian philosophy professor]
A joke Justice Goodloe was fond of telling
Justice Goodloe told about the day he had an appt. in Seattle at 6 PM. The court normally cut off work at 5 PM, but on this day the Chief Justice let the proceedings proceed. Five minutes after 5, Goodloe passed a note to the Chief noting that he had a Seattle appt. at 6. The Chief sent back a terse note to the effect "Sit. Stay!" and didn't shut down until 15 after.
Goodloe ran down to his car. It wouldn't start! Battery dead. He ran back up to his office and called the state motor pool, telling the guy he needed a car to get to Seattle. The man asked "What kind of car do you want? We have compacts, intermediates, full size and those big black limos we use to haul around those fat-ass judges..."
Goodloe interrupted "Sir! Do you know who you're talking to?"
Answer: "Well, no."
Goodloe "This is Justice William C. Goodloe of the Washington State Supreme Court."
Response Silence. "Judge, do you know who you're talking to?"
Goodloe (surprised): "Well, no."
"Click": as the other guy hung up.
This has a ring of truth about it.
Submitted by Bob Cihak