William Burnham Woods

Although Woods opposed the Civil War, because he opposed slavery, he came to accept a Union victory as a necessity. In 1862 he left the Ohio state house to join the Union Army. He was commissioned as lieutenant colonel of the 76th Ohio Infantry, which served in the Western Theater. He fought at the battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg, and was breveted brigadier general.

Woods commanded his regiment under William T. Sherman during the Atlanta Campaign and the Sherman's March to the Sea. During the Carolinas Campaign, he fought with distinction at the Battle of Bentonville, where he commanded the brigade. He was appointed a brevet major general and was promoted to full Brigadier General in early 1865. He left the Army in February 1866.

He decided to settle in the South, living for a year in Mobile, Alabama, where he reopened a law practice. He moved to the state capital of before moving to Montgomery, to continue his practice of law. There he bought property and cultivated cotton, hiring free African-American workers, likely as sharecroppers. He served as a Chancellor, Middle Chancery Division of Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama from 1868 to 1869.

Woods was appointed as a United States Circuit Judge for the United States Circuit Courts 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. At this point (relatively early in his career), Woods had a broad interpretation of the provisions of the 14th Amendment.[1]

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 received commission the same day. He 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.[2]

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.