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Hon. Joseph W. Hatchett

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Joseph W. Hatchett

This Scholarship Program was created in honor of Joseph Woodrow Hatchett (September 17, 1932 – April 30, 2021) who was an American lawyer and judge. He worked in private practice, was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, served on the Florida Supreme Court, and on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Early Education

Hatchett was born in Clearwater, Florida and attended segregated Pinellas High School, a public high school that existed from 1934 until 1968. It served the surrounding area of northern Pinellas County including Largo, Clearwater, Dunedin, Safety Harbor and Tarpon Springs during the era of segregation.

College Education

Florida A&M University, B.A., 1954
Howard University School of Law, J.D., 1959

Courtroom as a Judge

In 1979 President Jimmy Carter appointed him to a judgeship on the Former Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which subsequently divided to become the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. With this presidential appointment, Judge Hatchett became the first African American federal appellate court judge in the Deep South and heard cases for 20 years, retiring in 1999 after being elevated as the Chief Judge of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Joseph Hatchett - Career

After his military service in the U.S. Army, Hatchett first worked as a private attorney in Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida before he began a nearly 33 year career as a government lawyer (working for the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney and Magistrate) and then as a jurist (first as a Justice on the Florida Supreme Court and then as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit).