Longtime judge John C. Godbold, dies at 89 (LBJ appointee, 5th and 11th Circuit)

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John C. Godbold of Mont­gomery, a longtime federal appeals court judge who held a unique distinction in American jurisprudence, died Dec. 22. He was 89.

Godbold, appointed to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Lyn­don Johnson in 1966, became chief judge of the circuit in 1981. When the region for­merly covered by the circuit was divided and the new Eleventh Circuit was creat­ed, Godbold became chief judge of the new circuit, thus making him the only person ever to serve as chief judge of two different federal circuits.

In 1986, Godbold left the court to become director of the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, the training and research arm of the fed­eral court system. He later returned to the Eleventh Circuit on senior status and also served as a law profes­sor at Cumberland School of Law.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20091227/NEWS01/912270328/1007/