When by reason of disqualification the number of judges competent to sit in a case is reduced to eight or to six and there is equal division among them on any question material to the determination of the case, the fact shall be certified by the Chief Justice or, when he is disqualified, by the judges sitting to the Governor, who shall thereupon appoint a member of the bar of the Supreme Court to sit as a judge of said court in the determination of said case. Similarly, when by reason of disqualification no one of the judges is competent to sit in a case or the number is reduced below six, the fact shall be certified by the Chief Justice, if he is competent to sit, or, if not, by the judge or judges sitting, or, if no one is competent, by the clerk of the court to the Governor, who shall thereupon appoint members of the bar of the Supreme Court to constitute a special court of seven members for the consideration and determination of such case.
The word “disqualification,” as used in this section, shall include inability to sit by reason of prolonged illness of a chronic nature.
(Code 1896, §3837; Code 1907, §5953; Code 1923, §10274; Code 1940, T. 13, §15; Acts 1969, No. 602, p. 1087.)
Notes of Decisions
City of Bessemer v. McClain, 957 So. 2d 1061 (Ala. 2006).
· cites it 23× “The Cities argue that interpreting § 149 of the Judicial Article to allow the Chief Justice to appoint a Special Justice in the instant case "would lead to a direct conflict between the `Judicial Article of the Alabama Constitution and Section 12-2-14 of the Alabama Code.”
Roe v. Mobile Cnty. Appointment Bd., 676 So. 2d 1206 (Ala. 1995).
· cites it 10× “2d 75 (1971) (the court was divided 4-4 and a lawyer was appointed as a special Justice by the Governor under the predecessor to Ala.Code 1975, § 12-2-14). Since the adoption of the Judicial Article, there have been three occasions when the full Court recused, and the Chief…”
Aetna Life Ins. v. Lavoie, 475 U.S. 813 (1986).
· cites it 2× “Rather, Ala. Code § 12-2-14 (1975), which authorizes the appointment of special justices in the event disqualifications result in an even-numbered court which is evenly divided on a matter, would presumably have come into play.”
Caperton v. AT Massey Coal Co., Inc., 690 S.E.2d 322 (W. Va. 2009).
· cites it 2× “The opinion in Aetna Life cited the following procedure that was used by Alabama when a justice was disqualified: If Justice Embry had disqualified himself, the decision of the trial court would not have been affirmed by a vote of an equally divided court.”
Moore v. Jud. Inquiry Comm'n of Alabama, 200 F. Supp. 3d 1328 (M.D. Ala. 2016).
· cites it 4× “The court also notes that some members of the Supreme Court of Alabama re-cused themselves and special justices were appointed in the places of the recused Justices to rule on these matters, pursuant to Ala. Code § 12-2-14 . . In his brief, the Chief Justice states that the…”
Moore v. Jud. Inquiry Com'n of State, 891 So. 2d 848 (Ala. 2004).
· cites it 2× “21(h), and Ala.Code 1975, § 12-2-14, authorized the acting Chief Justice to "participate with the Governor in a random drawing" of 20 names from a pool of retired justices and judges who are members of the Alabama State Bar and capable of service.”
Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Lavoie, 470 So. 2d 1060 (Ala. 1984).
“Justices of this Court disqualify themselves as Justices considering the appellant's pending application for rehearing, for this Honorable Court to withdraw its opinion of December 7, 1984, which affirmed the verdict of the trial court, for the Clerk of the Supreme Court to…”
Slagle v. Ross, 125 So. 3d 117 (Ala. 2012).
“) In effect, Slagle is contending that, notwithstanding the provision in § 12-2-14, Ala.Code 1975, for the appointment of “member[s] of the bar” to sit as Special Justices in certain circumstances, the Constitution prevents such an appointee from engaging in the private practice…”
Butler v. Alabama Jud. Inquiry Comm'n, 111 F. Supp. 2d 1241 (M.D. Ala. 2000).
· cites it 3× “This power arises under § 12-2-14 of the Code of Alabama, the full text of which reads: 12-2-14.”
Moore v. Alabama Jud. Inquiry Comm'n, 234 So. 3d 458 (Ala. 2017).
· cites it 2× “), and Ala. Code 1975, § 12-2-14, authorized "the Acting Chief Justice to participate with the Governor in causing the names of 50 judges to be drawn at random from a pool of all retired appellate justices and judges, retired circuit court judges, and retired district court…”
Taylor v. Liberty Nat. Life Ins. Co., 462 So. 2d 907 (Ala. 1984).
“See § 12-2-14, Code 1975. [1] Brown Service provided funeral services and merchandise for the performance of burial insurance policies issued or assumed by Liberty National.”
Moore v. State, 183 So. 3d 1005 (Ala. 2015).
· cites it 2× “…by "disqualification,” and the number of Justices required to constitute a majority was five, not four. See also Ala.Code 1975, § 12-2-14.”
— Ala. Code § 12-2-14(1975) — 1 case
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