Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Drayton Nabers was named an Alabama Policy Institute Distinguished Fellow in September 2019 by API President Caleb Crosby. As an API Distinguished Fellow, Chief Justice Nabers will lend his voice to advocating for conservative policies which lead to better government and more freedom for all Alabamians.

Nabers was appointed Alabama State Finance Director in 2003 and served in that capacity until becoming Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2004 serving until 2006. In December 2018 Chief Justice Nabers retired as the director of the Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership at Samford University after leading the Center for four years. He has practiced law with the Birmingham firms of Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas & O’Neal and Maynard, Cooper & Gale. He served as the general counsel and chief executive officer of Protective Life Corporation, retiring in 2002 after serving the company in various roles since 1979.

Nabers has served as board chair for Cornerstone School of Alabama, president of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, and board chair for United Way of Central Alabama and Leadership Birmingham. He has been inducted into both the Alabama and Birmingham Business Halls of Fame. In 2011, he received the Birmingham Bar Association’s L. Burton Barnes Public Service Award.

A 1962 graduate of Princeton University, Nabers earned his law degree from Yale University in 1965. Before returning to Birmingham to practice law, he was a law clerk to Justice Hugo Black on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Nabers is an active member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham. He and his wife, Fairfax, have three children and seven grandchildren.