The Life of Raulston Schoolfield

The Chattanooga Public Library was filled with people ready to hear about the life of Raulston Schoolfield.

Schoolfield was a former County Judge who later served as a Hamilton County General Sessions judge.

The Chattanooga Area Historical Association had attorney Jerry Summers and author of Rush to Justice: Tennessee’s Forgotten Trial, a book about Schoolfield, come out to speak.

Summers said Schoolfield was a controversial man.

“He did not fit the mold of judges. he acted in a lot of ways, some people think, he acted improper. other people think that he was a champion for the little people. He represented a lot of undesirable people. He was a great lawyer. As a judge, he made decisions that he thought was right even though they were contrary to the law.”

Decisions that eventually caught up to Schoolfield and resulted in his impeachment and convictions by the Tennessee State Senate on charges of bribery and extortion.

Summers said Schoolfield had 23 charges brought against him, but was only charged with 3.

“The first charge was that he had actually cussed out a assistant district attorney in a private club across the street when he brought a legal document over there.”

The second charge brought to Schoolfield was that he raised money to buy a new car unethically.

He raised money from fellow lawyers friends and some of them from other people and they said that was wrong he and he shouldn’t have done that. The third charge was that he engaged in partisan political activity.”

Schoolfield served as Hamilton County’s General sessions court judge for 8 years.