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Hatchett brings vast experience

By LUCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 8, 2000

TALLAHASSEE -- When it comes to civil rights and racial injustice, few people have more experience than Joseph W. Hatchett, the first black man to serve on the Florida Supreme Court.

Hatchett, 67, is in private law practice with Akerman, Senterfitt & Eidson's Tallahassee office, retired from the judiciary in 1999. He will conduct an independent investigation into the handling of allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation within the University of South Florida women's basketball program.

He served on the state's highest court from 1975 to 1979, when he was appointed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- the first man of his race to serve on a federal appellate court in the South. He was chief judge of the Atlanta appeals court when he retired last year.

Born in Clearwater in 1932, Hatchett's father worked in citrus groves and his mother was a maid. He graduated from the all-black Pinellas High and attended Florida A&M University before getting his law degree at Howard University in 1959.

After law school, Hatchett worked as a civil rights lawyer, defending clients during the heated battles that arose during the desegregation of the South.

He served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Jacksonville in 1966 and as a special-hearing officer for conscientious objectors in 1967-68 before becoming the first black U.S. Magistrate in the South.

Last year, Hatchett represented a civil rights coalition that was pushing a constitutional amendment in support of affirmative action. The coalition mounted its effort to counter the plans by Californian Ward Connerly to place anti-affirmative action initiatives on the ballot.

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