# William Henry Moody *American politician and jurist (1853–1917); Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1906–1910* William Henry Moody (December 23, 1853 – July 2, 1917) held posts in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the United States government. From 1895 to 1902 he sat in the [[United States House of Representatives]] for parts of Essex County, Massachusetts. He then joined President Theodore Roosevelt's cabinet, first as Secretary of the Navy and then as Attorney General. Roosevelt placed him on the Supreme Court in 1906. Moody left the bench for health reasons in 1910, after a tenure of a little under four years.[^1] As Attorney General he prosecuted Standard Oil and the Beef Trust. After the lynching of Paul Reed and Will Cato, he withheld permission for a federal indictment on the view that no federal right had been violated. On the Court he wrote 67 opinions and five dissents.[^1] ## Early life and education Moody was born in Newbury, Massachusetts. His parents were Henry Lord Moody, who owned and ran several farms, and Melissa Augusta (Emerson) Moody. He went to local schools in Newbury, Salem and Danvers. He finished at Phillips Academy in 1872 and took his Harvard degree, with Phi Beta Kappa membership, in 1876. He left Harvard Law School after four months to read law under Richard Henry Dana Jr., and the Massachusetts bar admitted him in 1878.[^2] ## Start of career Haverhill, Massachusetts, chose Moody as its city solicitor in 1888. In 1890 he was appointed District Attorney for Eastern Massachusetts. In 1893 he served as the junior prosecutor at the murder trial of Lizzie Borden, and the prosecution did not prevail.[^3] ## U.S. Congress Massachusetts sent Moody to the House, where he served from 1895 to 1902. His committee assignments were Appropriations, Insular Affairs, and Expenditures in the Department of Justice. He also had a place on the Joint Commission on the Transportation of the Mails. In 1899 he sought to succeed Thomas B. Reed as Speaker, but the post went to David B. Henderson.[^4] ## Secretary of the Navy From 1902 to 1904 Moody was Roosevelt's Secretary of the Navy. Under him the department began the Roosevelt-era naval buildup, adding ships and widening the recruitment of sailors to states without coastlines. He negotiated the first lease with the government of Cuba. That lease allowed the United States to build and occupy the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.[^5] ## U.S. Attorney General Moody held the office of Attorney General from 1904 to 1906. He carried out Roosevelt's trust policy. Under that policy, some trusts, such as U.S. Steel, were dealt with by negotiation, and others were prosecuted. The department won cases against Standard Oil and the Beef Trust. After the lynching of Paul Reed and Will Cato, Moody refused permission for an indictment, taking the position that no federal right had been violated.[^6] ## U.S. Supreme Court On December 3, 1906, Roosevelt nominated Moody as an associate justice to fill the seat vacated by Henry B. Brown. The Senate confirmed the nomination on December 12, and Moody took the oath on December 17, 1906. Over his tenure he wrote 67 opinions and five dissents.[^7] He wrote in the minority in the *Employers Liability Cases* (1908). There he took the view that the power over interstate commerce reached the relationship between employers and their employees. In *Twining v. New Jersey* (1908) he held that the Fifth Amendment's protection against compelled self-incrimination did not extend to cases in state courts. Writing for a unanimous Court in *Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Mottley*, he confined federal question jurisdiction to suits in which the plaintiff's own cause of action rested on federal law.[^7] By 1908 Moody had severe rheumatism. He last sat on the bench on May 7, 1909, when he left for a short rest, and he never returned. President [[William Howard Taft]] made five appointments to the Court in 1910–1911. Taft pressed Moody, then the youngest justice at 55, to step down. At Taft's urging, Congress passed a special act giving Moody full retirement benefits for which he would not otherwise have qualified. Moody retired on November 20, 1910.[^7] ## Death and burial Moody never married and left no children. He died at Haverhill on July 2, 1917, aged 63. His grave is in Byfield Cemetery, Georgetown, Massachusetts.[^8] ## Awards and honors Tufts University and Amherst College each conferred an honorary LL.D. on Moody in 1904.[^9] ## Legacy After his death, part of Moody's official papers went into the keeping of [[Felix Frankfurter]], then a professor at Harvard Law School. They now form part of Frankfurter's papers in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. The Haverhill Historical Society received Moody's office furnishings and papers. They are shown in a Moody Room, open to the public, at the Buttonwoods Museum in Haverhill. USS *Moody* (DD-277) bears his name. Jay Huguley played him in *Lizzie* (2018), a film about Lizzie Borden.[^10] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26; CC BY-SA 4.0) — lead and Attorney General and Supreme Court sections: dates, House service, cabinet posts, Court tenure and opinion count. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody [^2]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Early life and education": birthplace, parents, schooling, bar admission in 1878. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody [^3]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Start of career": Haverhill city solicitor (1888), District Attorney (1890), Borden prosecution (1893). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody [^4]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "U.S. Congress": House service 1895–1902, committees, 1899 Speaker contest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody [^5]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Secretary of the Navy": 1902–1904 tenure, naval expansion, Guantanamo lease. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody [^6]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "U.S. Attorney General": 1904–1906 tenure, trust prosecutions, refusal of indictment after the Reed–Cato lynching. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody [^7]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "U.S. Supreme Court": nomination, confirmation and oath dates (December 1906), 67 opinions and five dissents, named cases, last sitting May 7, 1909, retirement November 20, 1910. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody [^8]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Death and burial": death July 2, 1917, burial at Byfield Cemetery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody [^9]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Awards and honors": 1904 honorary LL.D. degrees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody [^10]: Wikipedia, *William Henry Moody* (rev. 1376002077, retrieved 2026-10-26) — "Legacy": disposition of papers, Buttonwoods Museum Moody Room, USS *Moody*, 2018 film portrayal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Moody