Greg Cook on Tuesday announced that he is running for the Supreme Court of Alabama in 2022. He is currently general counsel for the Alabama Republican Party, in addition to being a practicing attorney with 30 years of experience in the courtroom.

A release from his campaign underscored that Cook identifies as a constitutional conservative. He is running for the associate justice position currently held by Justice Mike Bolin, who is not running for reelection.

“Judges should not legislate from the bench, but should apply the plain meaning of the written law. Judges should be like neutral umpires – just calling the balls and strikes – not favoring one side over another,” Cook said in a statement. “Instead of calling balls and strikes, activist judges can deliver home runs for progressive policies. We can’t have that in Alabama. We need justices who will follow the law and fairly rule on the cases before the Alabama Supreme Court.”

“I’m a conservative grounded in principle, who believes a judge is there to apply the law as written. This might sound boring and predictable, but it’s who I am,” he added.

Cook is a native of Florence. After high school, he attended Duke University on an Air Force ROTC scholarship and then served our country in the Air Force, reaching the rank of Captain. In 1988, Cook was admitted to Harvard Law School where he worked on the Federalist Society’s Journal of Law and Public Policy alongside future Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

After finishing law school, Cook moved back to Alabama to begin practicing law in Birmingham. Over the next three decades, he established himself as an active member of the Republican Party, volunteering in elections since 1992. In 2000, he served as a volunteer attorney for the Bush vs. Gore legal battle in Florida, where Cook helped supervise the hand recount of the famous hanging-chad ballots. Locally, he has served on the Jefferson County Republican Steering Committee, Executive Committee and as Legal Counsel to the Jefferson County GOP for almost two decades. Cook also served on the statewide Alabama Republican Party Executive Committee for almost 15 years including the past four years as general counsel for the ALGOP.

Cook has been married to his wife, Kimberly, for 33 years. They have three children and attend Dawson Baptist Church, where he is ordained as a deacon and has served as a volunteer student minister for over 20 years.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn