Townsend Scudder (July 26, 1865 – February 22, 1960) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from New York.

In 1921, he was defeated for the New York Court of Appeals by Republican William S. Andrews.

He was appointed to the New York Supreme Court by Governor Alfred E. Smith in February 1927 and was subsequently nominated by the two major political parties to succeed himself for the full term of fourteen years.

In his first year on the bench, Scudder presided of the highly publicized murder trial of Ruth Snyder and her lover Henry Judd Gray, for the murder of Ruth's husband Albert Snyder.

[3] Scudder remained on the bench until the end of 1936, when he reached the constitutional retirement age of 70 years.