John Tate Raulston (September 22, 1868 – July 11, 1956) was an American state judge in Rhea County, Tennessee, who received national publicity for presiding over the 1925 Scopes trial, a famous creationism–evolution debate.
Raulston, who was a member of a prominent Republican family, was born on a small farm in Marion County, Tennessee.
"[1] After a raucous trial, in which Darrow squared off against William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution, Scopes was convicted and fined $100.
In a statement several years after the trial, Raulston said that he had modified his views and no longer believed that the state should pass laws limiting the right to teach science to students when doing so didn't harm their morals.
[1] Raulston was portrayed as the character Judge Merle Coffey in the play Inherit the Wind and the 1960 film adaptation.