Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlemen for yielding time, and I thank my colleague and friend from Florida as well.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 2938 to name the Federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, for Judge Joseph Woodrow Hatchett. It is so appropriate for us to honor his life and legacy by naming the Federal courthouse in Florida's capital city for Judge Hatchett as he was a champion for fairness and justice.

He did have a hardscrabble background, being born to a maid and a fruit picker in the Tampa Bay area. He grew up in Pinellas County, but he was the pride of his family and his community through his graduation from Florida A&M University and with a law degree from Howard University. He served in the Army.

He was one of the first African-American Federal prosecutors--I believe the first in the Middle District of Florida. He was a Federal magistrate and served with distinction. Then he was tapped as the first African-American supreme court justice in the history of the State of Florida, and then on the circuit court of appeals, where he then served as chief judge.

Here is how various commentators, former clerks, and colleagues describe Judge Hatchett: he was unbelievably smart, he was a pioneer, a man of utmost integrity, a fine and decent judge who stood for racial justice and fairness, and a lifetime of work for ethics in government and justice in the courts.

One of his colleagues who served with him said that his external gentleness and calmness was wrapped around a steel core of dedication to equality and justice. His contribution to both of those ideals in Florida and this country throughout his life are immeasurable.

Madam Speaker, my Republican colleagues here who oppose the naming of the courthouse for Judge Hatchett now have an opportunity to do right by him.

One commentator described the changing of votes on the floor of the House that day and the votes against this honorable man as a new perigee of political pettiness, folks who wanted to reinforce their image as political heirs to this sort of mean-spirited and backward thinking that the South sent to Washington in a long-gone era.

So let's rise up against this thinking of us versus them, this capitulation to a MAGA mom. We are better than this in this House of Representatives, and it is time to honor this outstanding gentleman, Judge Joseph Woodrow Hatchett, for his life of integrity, fairness, and honor. He deserves so much more. But I hope we can all come together in a unanimous vote for this outstanding American.

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