Judge for the United States Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit. Woods was nominated by President Ulysses S. Grant on December 8, 1869, to a new seat, created by 16 Stat. 44. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 22, 1869, and received commission the same day. He was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, and resigned from the circuit court on December 23, 1880. In United States v. Hall, 26 F. Cas. 79 (C.C.S.D. Ala. 1871), Judge Woods upheld the constitutionality of the 1870 Enforcement Act under the authority of the Fourteenth Amendment. He held that Congress could enact legislation enforcing the “fundamental rights” of the Bill of Rights against state action and inaction. This meant Congress could enact legislation criminalizing violations of these rights by private individuals, at least in cases of state inaction. The Slaughter-House Cases, which "tested the issue of the reach and breadth of the 14th Amendment", were the most important cases that Woods adjudicated in the lower courts. He found that a state act that created a monopoly in the slaughterhouse business violated the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the new 14th Amendment and "therefore was void". Three years later, a majority of the Supreme Court reversed his decision in the Slaughter-House Cases. Supreme Court service Woods was nominated by President Rutherford B. Hayes on December 15, 1880 to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to a seat vacated by William Strong. He was confirmed by the United States Senate, by a vote of 39 to 8, on December 21, 1880, and took the oath of office on January 5, 1881. Woods was the first person to be named to the Supreme Court from a former Confederate state since 1853. But he was known as a Northerner, Union veteran, and Republican Party member, so was acceptable to the U.S. Senate's Republican majority. Woods is not considered to have been a major contributor to the Court. He served six years on the bench, until his death in Washington, D.C. on May 14, 1887. Legacy and honors During World War II the Liberty ship , built in Brunswick, Georgia, was named in his honor. See also List of American Civil War generals (Union) Slaughter-House Cases List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States Notes References |- 1824 births 1887 deaths 19th-century American judges