John M. Scott

John Milton Scott (August 1, 1824 – January 21, 1898) was an American attorney and politician from Illinois. After he was admitted to the bar in 1848, Scott moved to Bloomington, Illinois to form a law practice with Asahel Gridley. Scott had strong political convictions and ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Illinois Senate. He was appointed to the Illinois Circuit Courts in 1862 and then was appointed to the Supreme Court of Illinois in 1870. He served on the high state court for eighteen years, most notably authoring the decision for Ker v. Illinois. He served three one-year terms as Chief Justice.

John Milton Scott was born in August 1, 1824 in Belleville, Illinois. His parents were wealthy and could afford to send Scott to private schooling. Scott studied law in Belleville under Kinney & Bissell and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He then moved to McLean County to establish a law practice with Asahel Gridley in the Miller–Davis Law Buildings. A year later he was elected county school commissioner, a position that he served until 1852. He was then elected judge of the McLean County court and city attorney for Bloomington.

Scott admired the political philosophies of Daniel Webster and thus affiliated himself with the Whig Party. When the party dissolved in the 1850s, Scott became a Republican. He was nominated by the party for the Illinois Senate in 1856, but lost narrowly to William C. Goudy.

In 1862, fellow Bloomington native David Davis was elected Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, thus creating a vacancy in the Illinois Circuit Courts. Scott was appointed to fill the unexpired term, then was elected to serve a full term. In 1870, the Constitution of Illinois was amended; one of the amendments expanded the Supreme Court of Illinois. The Illinois bar convened that July and selected Scott as one of the new justices. He was re-elected by his district by a large margin in 1879. He declined re-elected to a third nine-year term in 1888. Scott served three times as Chief Justice (1875, 1882, and 1886). Scott wrote the decision of Ker v. Illinois, a case later heard before the United States Supreme Court, who wrote a similar decision.

Scott married Charlotte A. Perry, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, in 1853. They had two children, but both died in infancy. The Scotts adopted and raised another daughter. Outside of his legal pursuits, Scott owned and managed several farms in the Bloomington area. He enjoyed reading in his free time and owned a large collection of books. He died in Bloomington on January 21, 1898 and was buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.