President Biden nominates DA Colom for U.S. District Court for Mississippi’s Northern District

Congressman Thompson had recommended the two-term DA for the appointment in late 2021.

Mississippi District Attorney Scott Colom has been nominated for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi by President Joe Biden.

The White House confirmed Colom’s nomination to Y’all Politics on Friday.

Scott Colom has served as the District Attorney for the 16th Judicial District of Mississippi since 2016 representing Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee, and Oktibbeha counties.

Mississippi 2nd District Congressman Bennie Thompson recommended Colom to President Biden in a letter in late 2021.

“His name came up from all sectors as the caliber of person who if given an opportunity to be a federal judge, he would serve Mississippi well. He’s done a good job as a District Attorney. He’s been Municipal Court judge, a justice of the peace, and so he meets the test. I couldn’t think of a better person,” Thompson told WCBI in November 2021.

According to the White House, Colom practiced law at the Colom Law Firm LLC from 2011 to 2016. While working in private practice, he served in several part-time roles, including as the City Prosecutor for Columbus, Mississippi from 2013 to 2016; as a Municipal Court Judge in Aberdeen, Mississippi from 2012 to 2013; and as an Interim Justice Court Judge for Lowndes County, Mississippi from 2011 to 2012.

From 2009 to 2011, as a Skadden Fellow, Colom was a staff lawyer at the Mississippi Center for Justice.

Colom received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2009 and his B.A. from Millsaps College in 2005.

In 2015, Colom ousted a nearly 30-year incumbent to win the District Attorney. His opponent in that race, Forrest Allgood, pointed to campaign donations made by liberal billionaire George Soros as a reason for Colom’s win. The Clarion Ledger reported on the donation by Soros, stating:

“Soros, a New York financier and longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, gave almost $400,000 to a new Mississippi political action committee, and the money went to support Colom’s campaign as well as the re-election campaign of Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith.”

Colom went on to run unopposed in his 2019 re-election bid.

For Colom to assume the federal judgeship, he must first be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Neither of Mississippi’s U.S. Senators have expressed where they stand on Colom’s nomination by President Biden.