Justice Joseph Woodrow Hatchett was the 65th Justice on the Florida Supreme Court. He served from 1975-1979.After graduation from Florida A&M University in 1954, Joseph Hatchett was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He entered Howard University School of Law in 1956 and earned his LL.B. degree in 1959. After admission to the Florida Bar, he entered private practice in Daytona Beach, practicing criminal, civil, administrative, and civil rights law in state and federal courts. In 1966, he was appointed assistant United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida, and, in 1967, he was designated first assistant United States attorney. In 1971, he was appointed United States magistrate for the Middle District of Florida. In 1975, Governor Reubin Askew appointed Hatchett as the first black Florida Supreme Court justice.
