Jack Crozier Watson (September 17, 1928 – February 11, 2022) was a Louisiana lawyer and judge who served as a justice of the

Louisiana Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Louisiana (french: Cour suprême de Louisiane) is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orlea ...

from 1979 to 1996. Born in Jonesville, Louisiana, Watson received his undergraduate degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in 1949. The next year he joined the United States Air Force and served in the Philippines, Japan and Korea during the Korean War. He was discharged in 1954, and received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Louisiana State University Law School The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University. Because Louisiana is a ci ...

in 1956. He practiced law in Lake Charles, Louisiana until 1960, when he became an assistant district attorney for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana from 1961 to 1964, then a judge for the Louisiana District Court for Parishes of Calcasieu and Cameron from 1964 to 1972. He then served on the 1st and 3rd Circuit Courts of Appeal from 1972 to 1979, when Governor

Edwin Edwards Edwin Washington Edwards (August 7, 1927 – July 12, 2021) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. representative for from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th governor of Louisiana for four terms (1972– ...

appointed him to the Louisiana Supreme Court seat vacated by

Albert Tate Albert A. Tate Jr. (September 23, 1920 – March 27, 1986), was a long-serving Louisiana judge. A Democrat, Tate served as a justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court in New Orleans, and as a judge of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, ...

, when Tate was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. On September 21, 1996, Watson was defeated in his reelection bid by fellow Democrat

Jeannette Knoll Alicia Jeannette Theriot Knoll (born January 23, 1943) is a former member of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Knoll announced that she would retire at the end of 2016 rather than seek re-election. She was succeeded by James T. Genovese (born August 1 ...

, 102,560 (54.7%) to 84,861 (45.3%), losing by a three-to-one margin in Avoyelles Parish. Watson died on February 11, 2022, at the age of 93.

References

1928 births 2022 deaths People from Jonesville, Louisiana Military personnel from Louisiana Justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court Louisiana State University Law Center alumni University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni {{Louisiana-state-judge-stub