--- title: "Robert Bryan Harwell | KnowJudges" canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/robert-b-harwell" page_type: "judge_profile" updated: "2026-10-09" --- # Robert Bryan Harwell U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina · U.S. District Judge ## Profile - Court: U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina - State: South Carolina - Role: U.S. District Judge - Service status: senior - Last verified: 2026-07-25 ## Summary Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge. ## Biography ### Professional career - Judge, District Court, D. South Carolina, 2004-present - Law clerk, Hon. G. Rodney Peeples, South Carolina Circuit Court, Second Judicial Circuit, 1983-present - Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, having assumed senior status on June 4, 2024 - From February 28, 2019 to June 4, 2024, he was Chief Judge of the District of South Carolina - Law clerk, Hon. Ross Anderson, Jr., U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina, 1983-1984 - Law clerk to Judge G. Rodney Peeples (South Carolina Judicial Department) in 1983, and to Judge G. Ross Anderson (U.S. District Court, D. S.C.) in 1983–1984 - The nephew of James R. Harwell (Florence County magistrate judge) and Baxter “Hicks” Harwell Jr. (South Carolina Circuit Court judge), and the son of David Walker Harwell, Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court ### Education - Clemson University — B.A. (1980) - University of South Carolina School of Law ### Additional information - He held the role of a judge until June 4, 2024, when he took senior status. - Nominated by President George W. Bush on January 20, 2004 to a seat vacated by Charles Weston Houck, confirmed by the Senate on June 24, 2004, and commissioned on June 30, 2004. - Private practice, Florence, SC, 1984-2004 - Before joining the federal bench, Harwell practiced law in Florence, SC, from 1984 to 2004 - South Carolina Army National Guard, 1987-1992 - Born June 4, 1959, in Florence, South Carolina. - Date of birth: 1959-01-01 - handling a broad range of civil and criminal matters. - He was admitted to the bars of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, and the State of South Carolina - Birth place: Florence, SC ## Before you appear - Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed. - Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance. - Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding. ## Courtroom Rules ### courtroom technology Scope: courtwide Courtwide presentation-related guidance applies to this judge. Evidence excerpt: . Document Camera While many documents are displayed using a laptop computer, the courtroom’s evidence presentation cart features a high definition document camera that can display paper documents and objects on the courtroom monitors. The document camera zoom lens can display even the smallest details of any object. [SCD - Electronic Courtrooms Table of Contents](https://coop.scd.uscourts.gov/eCourtroom/index.asp) Source checked: 2026-07-24 ### civil remote testimony Scope: courtwide In federal district-court civil proceedings, testimony is ordinarily taken in open court; remote contemporaneous testimony requires good cause in compelling circumstances and appropriate safeguards. Evidence excerpt: For good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards, the court may permit testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location. [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ### criminal recording and broadcasting Scope: courtwide Federal district courts may not permit courtroom photography or broadcasting during criminal judicial proceedings unless a statute or another federal rule provides an exception. Evidence excerpt: Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom. [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ## Sources - [Official profile](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1392196) - [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1392196) - [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1392196) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/1387/robert-bryan-harwell/) - [SCD - Electronic Courtrooms Table of Contents](https://coop.scd.uscourts.gov/eCourtroom/index.asp) - [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) - [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/1387/robert-bryan-harwell/) - [Wikidata: Robert Bryan Harwell](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7342476) ## JSON-LD ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/robert-b-harwell", "url": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/robert-b-harwell", "name": "Robert Bryan Harwell | KnowJudges", "description": "Robert Bryan Harwell, U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. 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Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-civil-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27. - [Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, December 1, 2025](https://knowjudges.com/courtroom-rules/national-shared-set-8721a344fececced2257fe1d) — Criminal proceedings in United States District Courts; this conservative mapping does not distribute appellate-specific provisions to appellate judges. Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-criminal-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27.