J. Robert Elliott

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J. Robert Elliott (born January 1, 1910, Gainesville, Georgia) - (died June 27, 2006, Columbus, Georgia) was a politician and a federal judge.

The son of a Methodist minister, Elliott graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia in 1930. He taught school to earn money for his law degree, which he received from Emory Law School in 1934. In 1936, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives, where he served four terms. He joined the United States Navy during World War II, serving in the Pacific. Later he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1948 and 1952.

He was appointed as federal judge by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. He served on the bench for 38 years.

In his first year on the bench, Elliott issued an order halting a civil rights demonstration led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in Albany, Georgia.

He later said that the decision — subsequently overturned on appeal — was made due to a threat of violence against Rev. King and his supporters. But King biographer Taylor Branch wrote that Judge Elliott was a "strident segregationist."

In 1974, Elliott gained notoriety for overturning the conviction of Army Lt. William Calley for killing 22 people during the 1968 My Lai massacre, a decision later overruled by the appeals court.

Known for his dry wit and work ethic, in later years he became the only federal judge who worked without a clerk. Elliott was the nation's oldest federal district judge when he retired in 2000.