Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building

Floor Speech

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Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2938) to designate the United States Courthouse and Federal Building located at 111 North Adams Street in Tallahassee, Florida, as the ``Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building'', and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: S. 2938

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. JOSEPH WOODROW HATCHETT UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE AND FEDERAL BUILDING.

(a) Designation.--The United States Courthouse and Federal Building located at 111 North Adams Street in Tallahassee, Florida, shall be known and designated as the ``Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building''.

(b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the United States Courthouse and Federal Building referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be a reference to the ``Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building''.

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Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. 2938.

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Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2938, which designates the Federal Building at 111 North Adams Street in Tallahassee, Florida, as the Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building.

Born during the days of segregation, Judge Hatchett grew up in Clearwater, Florida. He graduated from Florida A&M University in 1954 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He entered Howard University School of Law in 1956, and when he took the Florida Bar Exam in 1959, Jim Crow regulations prevented him from staying in the hotel where the test was administered.

After admission to the Florida Bar, Judge Hatchett entered private practice in Daytona Beach, practicing criminal, civil, administrative, and civil rights law in State and Federal courts.

A series of judicial appointments that began in 1971 ultimately led to his placement on the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, making Judge Hatchett the first Black man appointed to a Federal appeals court in the Deep South. Judge Hatchett retired from the bench in 1999 and passed away in April of 2021 at the age of 88.

A House companion to this bill, H.R. 4771, was introduced by Congressman Lawson and had the support of the entire Florida Congressional delegation. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure passed H.R. 4771 in 2021.

Madam Speaker, I support S. 2938, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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