Scott Colom

Scott Winston Colom (born December 24, 1982) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the district attorney for the 16th Judicial District of Mississippi. He is a former nominee to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

Early life and education
Colom is a native of Columbus, Mississippi. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Millsaps College in 2005 and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2009.

Career
From 2009 to 2011, Colom worked as a staff lawyer at the Mississippi Center for Justice. From 2011 to 2016, he operated the Colom Law Firm. In 2011, Colom, then aged 28, was appointed the youngest and first black justice court judge in Lowndes County history. From 2012 to 2013, Colom served as a municipal court judge in Aberdeen, Mississippi, and interim justice court judge in Lowndes County, Mississippi. From 2013 to 2016, he served as the part-time city prosecutor of Columbus, Mississippi. He was the first Black city prosecutor for Columbus. Colom was elected district attorney for the 16th Judicial District of Mississippi in 2015, defeating a nearly 30-year incumbent, Forrest Allgood. Colom was sworn in on January 4, 2016. He was the first Black elected district attorney for the 16th Circuit and the first Black elected district attorney to a majority-white voting district in the history of Mississippi. He ran unopposed in 2019 and was re-elected. He ran for reelection in 2023 and was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Notable cases
In 2012, Colom represented Taylor Bell, a student at Itawamba Agricultural School who was disciplined by the school for publishing a rap song on Facebook that contained vulgar lyrics and criticized two coaches at the school. The district court dismissed Bell's challenge, however, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the dismissal, finding that the disciplining of a student for purely off-campus activities violates the First Amendment.

In 2016, Colom supported the release of Steven Jessie Harris to a state mental health facility. Harris had been held for 11 years without a trial.

In 2021, Colom dropped murder charges against Eddie Lee Howard. Howard spent 23 years on death row, after his conviction was based on debunked bite mark evidence.

Nomination to district court
On October 14, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Colom to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. On November 15, 2022, his nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Colom to the seat vacated by Judge Michael P. Mills, who assumed senior status on November 1, 2021. On January 3, 2023, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. He was renominated on January 23, 2023. Congressman Bennie Thompson initially recommended Colom for the role in a November 2021 letter to the White House. He received support from Senator Roger Wicker, who returned his blue slip, but on April 4, 2023, it was announced that Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith would not be returning her blue slip, effectively blocking his nomination. Hyde-Smith cited Colom's support for letting transgender students participate in girls' and women's sports and money he received from a PAC funded by George Soros as reasons for her opposition. On April 10, 2023, he wrote a letter to Senator Hyde-Smith asking her to reconsider her opposition to his nomination. In the letter, Colom stated that he did not request the money from the PAC, did not know the money would be contributed, and did not receive any money from the PAC when he was re-elected in 2019. The letter also stated that he never discussed his policies or any decisions he made as District Attorney with anyone from the PAC or with Soros. The letter also disputed that Colom had ever taken a position on letting transgender students participate in girls' and women's sports; instead, he said he had signed onto a letter with other District Attorneys condemning the criminalization of gender affirming surgery. As of December 2023, his nomination was still stalled despite bipartisan support from Congressman Thompson, Senator Wicker and former governors Phil Bryant and Haley Barbour. On January 3, 2024, his nomination was returned to the president.