Louis Scolnik

Louis Scolnik (born February 14, 1923), of Auburn, Maine, was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 94th Associate Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court from September 7, 1983 to July 31, 1988.[1]

Born in Lewiston, Maine, Scolnik became enamored of jazz music at the age of 12.[2] Scolnik attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he was part of the Bates College jazz ensemble.[2] While studying there, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Scolnik enrolled in the college's V-12 Naval Program.[3] After graduating in 1945, he fought in World War II,[3] first deployed as an officer on a U.S. Navy infantry landing ship,[2] which received heavy fire just before the surrender of Japan.[3] While serving, he found other musicians in the service and held impromptu jam sessions.[2]

Scolnik attended Georgetown Law School, graduating in 1952.[4] He thereafter became active in a local branch of NAACP and chaired the Maine Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, seeking to end housing discrimination against black service members stationed in Maine.[5] He was a founding member of the Maine chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.[5]

Scolnik was a judge of the Maine Superior Court, where in 1981, he was named presiding justice for Maine's Superior Court region II, covering seven counties.[6] He served on the Maine Supreme Court from 1983 to 1988. One of the first decisions he authored as a justice struck down a local obscenity statute in his hometown of Lewiston, which Scolnik observed "would reduce the aduly population to reading only what is fit for juveniles".[7]

After retiring from the court, Scolnik again formed a jazz band, the Golden Years Trio, which played for seniors for several years, until the death of one of its members.[2]

Scolnik's wife of 67 years, Paula, died on August 5, 2018.[8]