He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington and Lee University in 1962 and was a lieutenant in the United States Army, 8th Artillery, 7th Howitzer Battalion from 1962 to 1964.

He then won election as district attorney of Mobile County, although just 30 years old, and served from 1971 to 1975.

In 1971 the Mobile Jaycees named him one of the Outstanding Young Men of America.

[2] On April 28, 1988, Butler was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama vacated by Judge Emmett Ripley Cox.

He served as Chief Judge from 1994 to 2003, and assumed senior status on March 28, 2005.