Thomas L. Hayes

Thomas L. Hayes (May 30, 1926 – May 6, 1987) was the 70th Lieutenant Governor of Vermont and a Vermont Supreme Court Justice. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1985 by then-Governor Madeleine M. Kunin.

Thomas Lawlor Hayes was born in Fair Haven, Vermont on May 30, 1926. He served in the Army from 1944 to 1946 as an Infantry and Signal Noncommissioned officer in the Pacific Theater.

He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1950 and joined the staff of Senator Winston Prouty, remaining with him for 15 years and advancing to Administrative Assistant. He received a law degree from Georgetown University in 1955.

In 1966 Hayes ran unsuccessfully for Governor. He was the successful Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 1968 and served one term, 1969 to 1971. Active in opposition to the Vietnam War, he made national headlines in 1970 when he ordered Vermont flags lowered to half staff after the killing of four students at Kent State University by National Guard troops. In response Governor Deane Davis returned to Vermont from a conference and countermanded Hayes's directive.

Hayes ran unsuccessfully against Davis for Governor in the 1970 Republican primary. He later served as Legal Counsel to Governor Thomas Salmon and was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court.

In 1985 Hayes was appointed a Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, a position he served in until his death.

He was a champion of the state's constitution, and wrote a precedent-setting decision on the powers in that document. At the time of his death he faced Judicial Conduct Board charges for alleged misconduct along with fellow justices William C. Hill and Ernest W. Gibson III. [1]

He was married to Jenny Hayes. They had three children.