Gloria Maya Musu-Scott is a Liberian politician and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

who served as Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

from 1997 until 2003.

Early life and education

Scott was born in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

and is a member of the

Grebo people The Grebo or Glebo people are an ethnic group or subgroup within the larger Kru group of Africa, a language and cultural ethnicity, and to certain of its constituent elements. Within Liberia members of this group are found primarily in Maryland ...

. She has a bachelor's degree in economics and a law degree from the

University of Liberia The University of Liberia (UL or LU in older versions of abbreviation) is a publicly funded institution of higher learning located in Monrovia, Liberia. Authorized by the national government in 1851, the university opened in 1862 as Liberia Coll ...

Career

Scott is a member of the Liberian National Bar Association and a co-founder of the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia. She was an assistant professor at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia. Scott was appointed Chief Justice of the five member Supreme Court in 1997, after the court was reconstituted following the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

of Charles Taylor. In February 2003, Scott read a ruling of the court which said it did not have

legal jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, Federated state, state, and fed ...

over the rebel

Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) was a rebel group in Liberia that was active from 1999 until the resignation of Charles Taylor ended the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. While the group formally dissolved after the ...

to stop the second civil war in order to conduct a national census prior to the 2003 election. She served on the court until August 2003, when the

transitional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

took effect. At the 2005 elections, Scott became the Junior Senator for

Maryland County Maryland County is a county in the southeastern portion of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has two districts. Harper serves as the capital with the area of the county me ...

, representing the Alliance for Peace and Democracy. In 2008, she spoke to the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

about the need to look further beyond the events of

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. She lost her Senate seat in the 2011 election. Scott was the chairperson of the

Constitution Review Committee A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

which convened from 2013 until 2015. The CRC visited all 73

electoral districts An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

and collected a total of 56,729 views from citizens. In this role, Scott advocated for the participation of women as well as for the education of girls. Scott presented the Committee's final report to President

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Mon ...

in August 2015. In 2016, Scott was named as one of a number of judges said to be bad debtors by the Liberia Banker Association, which said she had failed to pay $11,241.04 owed to the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment.

References

External links

Interview on Constitution building
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musu-Scott, Gloria Living people Politicians from Monrovia Grebo people University of Liberia alumni Academic staff of the University of Liberia 20th-century Liberian women politicians 20th-century Liberian politicians Alliance for Peace and Democracy (Liberia) politicians Chief justices of Liberia Women chief justices Members of the Senate of Liberia Liberian women's rights activists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Liberian women politicians 21st-century Liberian politicians 20th-century Liberian judges 21st-century Liberian judges