G. Harrold Carswell

George Harrold Carswell (December 22, 1919 – July 13, 1992) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. He was also an unsuccessful nominee to the United States Supreme Court in 1970. Education and career Carswell was born in Irwinton, Wilkinson County, Georgia. He graduated from Duke University with an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1941 and briefly attended the University of Georgia School of Law before joining the United States Navy at the beginning of World War II. Carswell did six months of postgraduate work at the United States Naval Academy and served in the Pacific aboard the heavy cruiser as a lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve; he was discharged in 1945 (when the war ended). Carswell graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in 1948. Griffin Bell, 72nd Attorney General of the United States, was one of Carswell's classmates at Mercer. Carswell unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Georgia legislature in the fall of 1948. He then moved to Tallahassee, Florida, where he worked as a private attorney from 1948 to 1953. In 1953, he was appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida by President Dwight D. Eisenhower; Carswell served in this position until 1958. Personal life