Scott W. Stucky grew up on a dairy farm near Pretty Prairie, Kansas. Self-described as a shy intellectual, he threw himself headlong into activities his first semester at Wichita State, starting with pledging to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
A history major, Scott joined the University Debate Society and the Student Government Association. He served as SGA president for one term and credits Jim Rhatigan, former dean of students, as one of the most influential people of his time at Wichita State. From Dean Rhatigan, he gained wisdom of how to work with large organizations, maintaining calm and aplomb while sorting through numerous emergencies to find the most important one. His faculty mentors included history professors Phil Thomas and Martin Reiff; art history professor Mira Merriam; and political science professor Katherine Griffith, whom he considered a great scholar and teacher of political theory. Scott was selected as a Senior Honor Man and as Outstanding Greek. He also served in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, which was the introduction to his military career.
Scott graduated from Wichita State with a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He then attended Harvard Law School, passed the Kansas bar, and went on active duty as a judge advocate in the Air Force, serving in San Antonio, Texas; U-Tapao, Thailand; and Syracuse, New York. After leaving active duty, he practiced with a Washington, D.C., law firm and then served as a branch chief with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
For 21 years, Scott served in the Air Force Reserve as a judge advocate individual mobilization augmentee and was appointed three times as an appellate military judge on the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. He also served two years as the senior IMA in Washington, D.C., responsible to the Judge Advocate General for the training and readiness of 120 reservists. In 1983, Scott became a civilian legislative counsel for the Department of the Air Force, and later its principal legislative counsel. Thirteen years later, Scott served as general counsel of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and was the principal legal officer for its majority side. As counsel, he was responsible for 10 consecutive national defense authorization acts. He retired from the Air Force Reserve as a colonel in 2003. In recognition of his outstanding military service, Scott was presented with the highly prestigious Legion of Merit as well as the Meritorious Service Medal.
To cap his legal career, Scott was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in 2006. He served as an appeals judge for nine years until he became the court’s chief judge, and he held that position for four years. He transitioned to senior judge in 2021 and maintains this position.
In 2022, the Wichita State University Alumni Association recognized him with its Alumni Achievement Award, and a year later, he returned to Wichita State as commencement speaker.
Scott holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Wichita State and a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School. Additionally, he holds a master’s degree in history from Trinity University and a master’s degree in international law from George Washington University.
Scott was married to the former Jean Seibert, assistant general counsel for contractor human resources at the U.S. Department of Energy, and who died in 2020.