In the Pursuit of Justice, A Life of Law and Public Service: United States District Court Judge and Brigadier General (Retired) Wayne E. Alley (U.S. Army, 1952-1954, 1959-1981)
| Author | George R. Smawley |
| Position | Judge Advocate, U.S. Army |
| Pages | 213-306 |
2011] BRIGADIER GENERAL (RET) WAYNE E. ALLEY 213
IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE, A LIFE OF LAW AND PUBLIC
SERVICE: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE AND
BRIGADIER GENERAL (RETIRED) WAYNE E. ALLEY (U.S.
ARMY, 1952–1954, 1959–1981)
COLONEL GEORGE R. SMAWLEY1
The Judges are probably the best known of all our public men. . . He is
constantly brought into direct personal relations, not only with members
of a large and active profession, but with men in all ranks of life, and on
every sort of subject . . . The strongest impression that they leave in one’s
mind is the simplicity and unaffectedness of the Judge who, while
displaying sometimes a keen sense of humour far reaching in its effects,
have not allowed it to interfere in the least with the dignified and most
powerful expression they have so often given to the public mind.2
—J. W. Norton-Kyshe
1 Judge Advocate, U.S. Army. Presently assigned as the Staff Judge Advocate, 25th
Infantry Division & U.S. Division–Center (USD–C), Camp Liberty, Iraq. The U.S. Army
Command & General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 2004; LL.M., 2001, The
Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, Charlottesville, Virginia; J.D., 1991,
The Beasley School of Law, Temple University; B.A., 1988, Dickinson College.
Previous assignments include: Staff Judge Advocate, Multi-National Division–North
(MND–N) and Task Force Lightning, Iraq, 2009; Assistant Executive Officer, Office of
The Judge Advocate General (OTJAG), Pentagon, 2007–2009; Deputy Staff Judge
Advocate, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) & Fort Drum, Fort Drum, New York,
2004–2007; Deputy Staff Judge Advocate, Combined Joint Task Force–76, Afghanistan,
2006; Plans Officer, Personnel, Plans & Training Office, OTJAG, Washington, D.C.,
2001–2003; Legal Advisor, Chief, Administrative & Civil Law, Chief, International Law,
U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 1998–2000;
Senior Trial Counsel, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Felony Prosecutor), Chief, Claims
Division, Fort Benning, Georgia, 1995–1998; Trial Counsel, Special Assistant U.S.
Attorney (Magistrate Court Prosecutor), Operational Law Attorney, Chief, Claims
Branch, 6th Infantry Division (Light), Fort Wainwright, Alaska, 1992–1995. Member of
the bars of Pennsylvania, the U.S. District Court–Northern District of New York, the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
2 JAMES WILLIAM NORTON-KYSHE, ED., THE DICTIONARY OF LEGAL QUOTATIONS OR
SELECTED DICTA OF ENGLISH CHANCELLORS AND CHIEF JUSTICES FROM THE EARLIEST
PERIODS TO THE PRESENT TIM E intro. (Lincolns Inn-London, 1904?), available at
http://books.google.com/books?id=ILJJg6z3H-IC&pg=PR5&lpg=PR5dq=J.W+Norton-
Kyshe+dictionary+of+legal&source=bl&ots=IbrH8TNexx&sig=0-4flupwFDnqSSdlnf_
DTkpJKjQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPR3,M1 (last visited
Dec. 8, 2011).
214 MILITARY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 208
A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel!
O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!3
—William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
I. Introduction
Military judges, like all judges who serve as key arbiters of fact and
law, are a central and often under-reported component in the
administration of justice for the U.S. Armed Forces.4 From the inception
of the Republic, these men and women have played a crucial role across
the spectrum of military criminal courts, including the notable trials of
Major John Andre for spying during the American Revolution (1780),
Confederate Captain Henry Wirz for the Andersonville War Crimes
(1865), the insubordination case against General William “Billy”
Mitchell (1925), and the My Lai massacre case against Lieutenant
William Calley (1969). The role of military judges in more recent
conflicts and combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan continues this
distinctive service.
Particularly notable in the Calley5 case is the author of the opinion by
the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals (ACCA)6—Brigadier General
(BG) (Retired) Wayne E. Alley, one of the Army’s most distinguished
jurists. What makes BG Alley more than a mere footnote in a case from
one of the darker chapters in recent American military history is his truly
remarkable life and career commitment to the legal profession—as an
Army judge advocate, the Dean of the Oklahoma University College of
Law, and as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western
3 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, act 4, sc. 1, ll. 223–24. This is a
likely allusion to the biblical character Daniel who was attributed with fine powers of
judgment. In Daniel 5:14 (New International Version), we find: “I have heard that the
spirit of the gods is in you and that you have insight, intelligence and outstanding
wisdom.”
4 See generally Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) Article 26, detailing the
qualifications and requirements for service as a military judge. UCMJ art. 26 (2008).
5 United States v. William F. Calley, 46 C.M.R. 1131 (1973) affirmed, 48 C.M.R. 19
(1973).
6 In 1968 the U.S. Army criminal appellate court was renamed the U.S. Army Court of
Military Review (ACMR). See Military Justice Act of 1968, Pub. L. No. 90-632, § 2(27),
82 Stat. 1335. The name of the court was changed again in 1994 to the Army Court of
Criminal Appeals (ACCA), pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 1995, Pub. L. No. 103-342, § 924, 110 Stat. 2663, 2871 (1994). This article refers to
the respective court’s current nomenclature.
2011] BRIGADIER GENERAL (RET) WAYNE E. ALLEY 215
District of Oklahoma. BG Alley is one of only two career Army judge
advocate officers to later serve as a federal judge.7
Brigadier General Alley’s profound engagement and personal
commitment to the exercise of military justice and the Army judiciary
throughout a highly successful twenty-four year military career is
particularly notable for the fact that he abjured the conventional wisdom
of what a judge advocate career should look like. As a trial judge in
Vietnam, appellate judge on the Army Court of Military Review, Chief
of the Criminal Law Division - Office of the Army Judge Advocate
General, and Chief Trial Judge for the U.S. Army, BG Alley maintained
a rare and steadfast commitment to military justice and the Army
judiciary.
This is a distinctive departure from the common bias toward career
enhancing leadership positions such as legal counsel to high-profile
organizations, the staff judge advocate (senior legal counsel) for combat
divisions and corps, large installations or task forces, or serving as
counsel to the Army or Defense Department staff. Since BG Alley’s
retirement in 1981, there has been no Army judge advocate general
officer with as substantive a career history of service on the trial and
appellate courts.8
In peace and in war, as a soldier and a civilian, as a legal academic
and practitioner, Wayne Alley dedicated his marked professional
energies to the honest and fair application of law and the tireless pursuit
of justice.
By any measure, BG Alley is among the best of his generation for
the example he set as a military officer and lawyer who continuously
sought excellence in the application of the law within the Army, and the
extraordinary standard he established for others to follow. This article is
a summary and analysis of key oral histories and interviews, and
7 See FED. JUDICIAL CTR., THE BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY OF FEDERAL JUDGES, available
Sneeden, U.S. Army (1927–1987), served as the Army’s Chief Appellate Judge before
his retirement from active duty in 1975, and was later appointed by President Reagan to
serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1984–1986.
8 E-mail from Colonel Frederic Borch (Retired), Regimental Historian & Archivist for
the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Gen.’s Corps, The Judge Advocate Gen.’s Legal Ctr. &
Sch., to Lieutenant Colonel George R. Smawley (2 Dec. 2009) (on file with author); U.S.
Army General Officer Management Office (GOMO), available at
https://www.gomo.army.mil/ext/portal/MainHome.aspx (last visited 3 January 2012).
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