Judge Jay Moody
Eastern Arkansas U.S. District Court
James “Jay” Maxwell Moody Jr. was born in August 1964 in El Dorado, Arkansas. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas Bowen School of Law. He entered into private practice.
He was a circuit judge for the Third Division of the Sixth Judicial District of Arkansas.
Moody was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. After a cloture vote, Moody was confirmed by the Senate and assumed his position in March 2014.
In the News…
The state of Arkansas was the first in the nation to place a ban on gender-affirming care for children. The law was temporarily blocked in 2021, and now District Judge Jay Moody has issued a permanent injunction against the state law.
The law sought to prohibit physicians from providing hormone treatment, puberty blockers, or surgery for anyone under the age of 18. In his ruling, Judge Moody said the prohibition violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and families and violated the First Amendment rights of medical providers.
“Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that, by prohibiting it, the state undermined the interests it claims to be advancing,” Judge Moody wrote in his ruling.
The ruling, which applies only to the state of Arkansas, is likely to be appealed to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which last year upheld Judge Moody’s temporary restraining order.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Judge Moody today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Jay Moody
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
500 West Capitol Avenue
Little Rock, AR 72201
