§ VII — About
East Tennessee residents deserve a court that answers in months, not years. Right now, after both sides argue their case, families wait close to a year for a written ruling. That is too long. Nine years on the bench, more than 1,800 cases ruled on in writing, not one overturned for getting the law wrong. Civil cases answered in under six months. Criminal under four. Counted. Posted. Held to.
[ Statement on the record ]
“I don't run on what I think about hot-button cases. I run on the record. Eighteen hundred forty-seven opinions, each one written for the litigant first and the casebook second. That's the job.”
— Hon. Daniel R. Shoemaker · Tennessee Court of Appeals · Eastern Section
§ VIII — Record, in sections
01
Born in Blount County in 1969, the second of four. Father a salesman for a Knoxville hardware distributor; mother a public-school librarian. Public school through twelfth grade. First in his family to finish a four-year degree.
02
B.A. in History, UT Knoxville, 1991. J.D., UT College of Law, 1994 — Order of the Coif, articles editor, Tennessee Law Review. One-year clerkship for the Hon. Houston Goddard, Tennessee Court of Appeals, 1994–1995.
03
1995–2003. Tried 412 jury cases — violent crime, property, white collar. Promoted to lead the Special Crimes Unit in 2000. Recipient of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference outstanding-prosecutor award, 2002.
04
Twelve years (2003–2015). Insurance defense, business litigation, appellate work. Argued thirty-one matters before the Tennessee Court of Appeals and twice before the Tennessee Supreme Court. Tennessee Bar Association civility award, 2012.
05
Elected 2016, re-elected unopposed 2024. Authored 1,847 written opinions across general civil, family, and criminal matters. Of 184 appealed, zero reversed for legal error. Designated by the Tennessee Supreme Court for special appointments to three multi-jurisdiction commercial cases.
06
Married 28 years to Sarah Beth Shoemaker, RN at UT Medical Center's pediatric oncology unit. Two grown sons: Jack, a Marine Corps captain; Will, a third-year law student at Vanderbilt. Member of First Presbyterian Knoxville. Volunteers monthly at the East Tennessee Children's Hospital legal-aid clinic. Lifelong fly fisherman.
VOTEGTR Demo Site — Hon. Daniel R. Shoemaker is a fictional candidate created for demonstration. This site is illustrative only and is not affiliated with any real campaign, committee, candidate, court, or judicial body. Paid for by VOTEGTR for demonstration purposes.
§ IX — Stated policy