Scott Colom keeps a folder in his office desk full of letters supporting his ill-fated nomination for federal judge.
They come from area attorneys, law enforcement agents and about 30 victims in cases the 16th Circuit district attorney has prosecuted since he was first elected in 2015.
Since former President Joe Biden first nominated Colom, a fellow Democrat, in October 2022, even state Republican leaders like U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, 1st District U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly and former governors Phil Bryant and Haley Barbour voiced their support for his consideration.
In the end, none of it moved the needle, and Colom’s nomination died without the Senate even giving him a hearing.
“It just did not seem to matter how much local (or state) support I had. It was only D.C. politics,” Colom told The Dispatch in an exclusive interview Thursday. “… I tried everything I could to get across the finish line because I wanted to be of service. But I just couldn’t make it happen.”
It’s the first time Colom has spoken publicly about his nomination, since both the Biden White House and judicial canons restricted what he could say during the vetting process.
The killing blow to Colom’s nomination came in April 2023, when Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith announced she would not return a “blue slip” to the Senate Judiciary Committee supporting it. Blue slips are an informal “thumbs up” from a nominee’s home state senators, which paves the way to a Senate hearing.
Wicker returned a blue-slip for Colom, and the Biden administration continued to back the nomination despite Hyde-Smith’s opposition. But her objection appeared to be enough to keep Colom off the federal bench.
“To just say unilaterally, ‘I’m going to have the same amount of power as the president’ … I don’t think it’s fair,” Colom said of Hyde-Smith. “If I have the hearing and I don’t do a good job, you are a Republican senator. All you have to do is get … at that point you needed two Democrats, and you could have stopped me on the floor. … If you can’t get two of your colleagues not to vote for me because you don’t think I’m good for (the position) what does that say about you?”
Each year, nominations must be resubmitted for federal judicial nominees. Colom does not anticipate President Donald Trump will nominate him.
“There will be a new nominee for that seat, and I wish that person the best,” he said. “I hope they find someone who is really focused on … North Mississippi and is really invested in that.”
‘A heck of a thing’
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi’s 2nd District, recommended Colom as a federal judge for the Northern District of Mississippi in November 2021, when Judge Michael P. Mills retired after serving 20 years on the bench.
What followed was about four months of vetting from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which included thorough background checks. Anywhere Colom lived, someone had to verify it. If he traveled overseas, the FBI interviewed people who traveled with him to show Colom had not been compromised.
Every attorney Colom had worked with was interviewed anonymously with the FBI.
“If there was any dirt on me, (the FBI) was going to find it,” Colom said.
After clearing those hurdles, the White House did its own vetting for the Senate questionnaire.
“They’re not just worried about if there is any criminal or issues in your background that would compromise you,” Colom said. “Is there anything that’s going to embarrass the president? That’s even more intrusive. … Everything I said since I was 18, every speech I gave, I had to find it and disclose it. … It’s a heck of a thing.”
The trans rights question
His record was good enough for Biden and the FBI. But not for Hyde-Smith.
In her statement in 2023 announcing she would not support Colom’s nomination, she pointed to concerns “about Scott Colom’s opposition to legislation to protect female athletes.”
Hyde-Smith supports banning transwomen from competing in female sports.
In June 2021, Colom signed a joint-statement with 73 other elected prosecutors and law enforcement leaders throughout the country stating they do not support the criminalization of doctors or parents who help someone through gender-affirming care or of individuals who use facilities aligned with their gender identity. The statement does not mention athletes or athletics at all.
“Had she asked me, I would have told her I’m not for trans girls playing female sports,” Colom said Thursday. “I want the public to know that. … But I’m also not for bullying trans people.
“I still don’t like the idea we’re pretending there’s an invasion of trans people in Mississippi and this is one of our big issues. It’s not,” he added. “We’re bullying these people. We’re picking on these people. I’m not going to be a part of that.”
Hyde-Smith’s other issue was support Colom’s campaign received in 2015 from a political action committee backed by New York billionaire and liberal megadonor George Soros. The PAC poured more than $700,000 into Colom’s bid to unseat longtime incumbent Forrest Allgood, though Colom has emphatically stated more than once he does not know Soros and did not ask for his support.
The only face time Colom said he ever got with Hyde-Smith was a “polite” Zoom interview prior to her blue-slip announcement.
“She did not ask me any tough questions,” he said. “The reasons that she gave for not turning in the blue slip, she did not ask me about those. … It wasn’t serious. She had her mind made up.”
Worse, he couldn’t respond because judicial canon forbade it.
“Then the senators could say, ‘You’ve already told the public how you feel about this issue,’” he said. “That was frustrating.”
Pivoting to reelection
As Colom’s nomination languished, 2023 was an election year for district attorney.
Colom entered the race, as did his friend and Assistant DA Marc Amos. If Colom became a judge, Amos would get his endorsement. If not, Amos would drop out and endorse Colom, which ended up being the case.
“I’m sure he thought in his mind what he would do as DA,” Colom said. “That’s human nature. I’m sure it was disappointing for him.”
Amos told The Dispatch he was actually a little relieved.
“Frankly whatever happened to me was secondary,” he said. “… I hope I would be a good DA. But Scott is a great one.”
After running unopposed in 2019, Colom beat Republican Jase Dalrymple in 2023 to win a third term.
But pivoting to reelection was “emotionally difficult” and his decisions in and out of the courtroom were under considerable scrutiny.
“The political climate wasn’t great,” he said. “President Biden wasn’t popular. I was a ‘Biden-nominee.’ … If I make one misstep and it becomes newsworthy, I’m definitely done. Not just a nomination. My reelection.”
Focused on Mississippi
Colom may never be a federal judge, but he said that’s OK.
He stuck it out through the process, showing his wife and daughters he wasn’t a quitter even in the face of treatment he felt was unfair.
And he still has his letters, along with the memories of phone calls, emails and texts from supporters that spanned racial and party lines.
“I have a lot of love for this area. The only reason I put so much effort into becoming a federal judge is because I feel like I owe a debt to these people,” he said. “I really care about Mississippi.”
The whole experience, he said, strengthened his faith in God.
“I believe God has a mission and vision for my life,” he said. “Through failure he’s teaching me things. The thing He taught me in this situation is, ‘Scott, stay focused on Mississippi.’”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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