Charles R. Scott

Who was Charles R. Scott?

Charles Ray Scott was an American lawyer and judge.

Scott was born in Adel, Iowa. He received his LL.B. from Valparaiso University School of Law in 1934. In 1925, he was title clerk at the Chicago Title & Trust Company in Chicago. From 1926 to 1960, he was in private practice in Jacksonville, Florida. He served as a circuit judge of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida from 1960 to 1966.

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Scott to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida on October 11, 1966, to a new seat created by 80 Stat. 75. Confirmed by the Senate on October 20, 1966, he received commission on November 3, 1966. Andrew McClurg, a noted professor of torts, was a law clerk to Scott.

Scott incurred the ire of Florida Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. in 1970 for issuing busing orders for Volusia County schools; Kirk denounced Scott on television and called for his impeachment. In 1980, Scott approved the settlement of a civil rights suit filed by state prison inmates, setting a cap on the state prison population and sparking a prison reform effort for inmate health care.

Scott assumed senior status on November 12, 1976. He remained on the court until his death in 1983 at age 79. He died at Memorial Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in his hotel room while attending a conference of judges of the 11th Judicial Circuit and never regained consciousness.