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Scott Bales
Served in the Arizona Supreme Court for fourteen years, including as president from 2014 to 2019. As a judge, he chaired four state commissions that reviewed and nominated candidates for the Arizona trial and appellate courts.
Who is Scott Bales
Scott Bales served on the Arizona Supreme Court for fourteen years, inlcuding as Chief Justice between 2014-109. As a justice, he chaired four state commissions that reviewed and nominated candidates from Arizona trial and appellate courts. He now consults on legal matters and serves as an arbitrator.
Before his judicial appointment, Bales had practiced law in Arizona for nearly twenty years as a private and public lawyer. His prior work includes prosecuting financial crimes, investigating misconduct in the FBI’s crime lab, and assisting the Arizona state Senate in investigating a bribery scandal, which ended with the removal of one senator and the resignation of another. He was a partner in two Phoenix law firms and served as Arizona’s Solicitor General, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice, an Investigative counsel for the Justice Department’s Inspector General, and a federal prosecutor.
Bales was a law clerk for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Joseph T. Sneed III on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. After graduating from Michigan State University with degrees in history and economics, he received a master’s degree in economics and his law degree from Harvard.