Background
William Goodloe was born in Lexington, Kentucky.
William Goodloe was born in Lexington, Kentucky.
University of Washington.
After graduating from the University of Washington School of Law in 1948, he went on to practise as a trial lawyer for 24 years. He served on the King County Superior Court for twelve years and served for three and a half years on the Washington State Supreme Court from January 14, 1985 to July 17, 1988, after winning a contested election. While on the Supreme Court, Justice Goodloe authored 56 majority opinions with 12 concurrences and 34 dissents.
He resigned his position before the end of his first term.
Goodloe twice attempted to run for the United States Senate. In 1988, he entered the Republican primary against Slade Gorton, receiving around 3% of the vote.
In January 1992, Goodloe challenged Democratic Senator Brock Adams as a third-party candidate, representing the Washington Taxpayers Party, which he had established in 1991. In the early 1990s, Goodloe set up a group called "Morality in Youth", to oppose a plan by the Seattle School District to distribute contraception in public schools.
He was an advocate of jury nullification and 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.".