Admitted to the Virginia bar, Wadill began a private legal practice in Hanover County from 1877 to 1878, then moved to Richmond, where he practiced in the city and surrounding Henrico County from 1878 to 1880.[1] In 1880, the Virginia General Assembly named him a Judge of the County Court of Henrico County. He served for three years (to 1883) before resigning to take the position of United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (from 1883 to 1885).[1] Waddill then resumed his private legal practice as well as successfully ran for the Virginia House of Delegates (a part time position) and was re-elected, serving from 1885 until 1889.[1]
President William McKinley nominated Waddill on March 10, 1898, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated by Judge Robert William Hughes.[1] The United States Senate confirmed the nomination on March 22, 1898, and Judge Waddill received his commission the same day.[1] One of his famous cases involved suffragettes sentenced to jail for protesting as "the Silent Sentinels" outside the White House. On November 14, 1917, the women sentenced to the Occoquon Workhouse in Lorton, Virginia endured a "Night of Terror" which included beatings by prison guards, and suffragette Lucy Burns was forced to stand all night with the arms shackled to her cell's ceiling. Three days later, Judge Waddill issued a Writ of Habeas Corprus seeking to free the women jailed near Alexandria, Virginia, and ten days later ordered them released.[3] Judge Waddill's district court service terminated on June 9, 1921, upon his elevation to the Fourth Circuit.[1]
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