Scott Lawrence Palk (born 1967) is an American attorney and academic. He is currently a Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. He formerly served as Assistant

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

at the

University of Oklahoma College of Law The University of Oklahoma College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of Oklahoma. It is located on the University's campus in Norman, Oklahoma. The College of Law was founded in 1909 by a resolution of the OU Boa ...

Education and legal career

Palk is a 1985 graduate of

Charles Page High School Charles Page High School is a high school in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, Sand Springs, Oklahoma, United States, named after the philanthropist Charles Page. It is the only public High school (North America), high school in Sand Springs. History Char ...

Sand Springs, Oklahoma Sand Springs is a city in Osage, Creek and Tulsa counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. A western suburb of Tulsa, it is located predominantly in Tulsa County. The population was 19,874 in the 2020 U. S. Census, an increase of 5.1 percent from ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in 1989 from

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

and a Juris Doctor in 1992 from the

. From 1992 to 2002, Palk served as an Assistant District Attorney for

Cleveland County Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

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, Oklahoma, serving as First Assistant District Attorney from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 to 2011, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Oklahoma, holding a number of managerial roles beginning in 2004, including Deputy Criminal Chief and Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council Coordinator. Palk won Prosecutor of the Year awards in 1993 and 2004. From 2011 until his confirmation as a U.S. District Judge, he served as the Assistant

for Students and Assistant General Counsel at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. In addition to overseeing admissions and providing legal counsel, he served as a consultant to the University's Threat Assessment Review Committee, advising in areas of criminal threat assessment and legal access.

Federal judicial service

Expired district court nomination under Obama

On December 16, 2015,

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

nominated Palk to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, to the seat vacated by Judge

Stephen P. Friot Stephen P. Friot (born August 14, 1947) is a Senior status, senior United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. Education and career Born in Troy, New York, ...

, who assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on December 1, 2014. He received a hearing before the

United States Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, ...

on April 20, 2016. On May 19, 2016, his nomination was reported out of committee by a

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

. His nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the 114th Congress.

Renomination to district court under Trump

On May 7, 2017, a White House official indicated that Palk would be renominated by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

to the same seat. His renomination was announced on May 8, 2017. On June 15, 2017, his nomination was reported out of the

by a 17–3 vote. On October 25, 2017, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

invoked

cloture Cloture (, also ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. ' ...

on his nomination by a 79–18 vote. On October 26, 2017, Palk was confirmed by a 79–16 vote. He received his judicial commission on October 31, 2017.

Personal life

Palk was inducted into the

Hall of Fame in 2019.

References

External links

*
Biography at Western District of Oklahoma
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Palk, Scott L. 1967 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma Deans of law schools in the United States Lawyers from Tulsa, Oklahoma Oklahoma lawyers Oklahoma State University alumni United States district court judges appointed by Donald Trump University of Oklahoma College of Law alumni