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“WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BOOTLE FEDERAL BUILDING AND U.S. COURTHOUSE” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H11567-H11568 on Sept. 27, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BOOTLE FEDERAL BUILDING AND U.S. COURTHOUSE
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the immediate consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 4119) to designate the Federal building and U.S. courthouse located at 475 Mulberry Street in Macon, GA, as the ``William Augustus Bootle Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse.''
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Maryland?
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest] for an explanation of the legislation.
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4119 is a bill which would designate the U.S. courthouse in Macon, GA as the William Augustus Bootle Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse.
He was appointed to the U.S. district court by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on May 20, 1954. Judge Bootle presided as district judge and acted as chief judge handling all six divisions of the court in six different courthouses, in 71 counties of Georgia.
In his time on the bench, Judge Bootle was highly regarded by lawyers throughout the district for his keen intellect and warm sense of humor, he is, perhaps, most widely recognized for his decision in 1961 ordering the admittance of two African-American students to the University of Georgia. This decision led to the desegregation of Georgia's public school system.
The naming of a courthouse in Judge Bootle's honor is a fitting tribute to a distinguished jurist. I support this bill and urge my colleagues' support.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar], the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
(Mr. OBERSTAR asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support for H.R. 4119, a bill to designate the Federal building and United States Courthouse in Macon, GA, as the William Augustus Bootle Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
Judge Bootle has been serving the citizens of Georgia since 1928 when he was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.
He has been very active in the community, serving for many years as a Trustee for Mercer University. Judge Bootle is known for his fairness and judicial scholarship. This bill deserves our support and I urge its adoption.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the distinguished author of the bill, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Chambliss].
Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate both my colleagues from Ohio and Maryland for moving this bill along as quickly as they did.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4119. Judge William Augustus Bootle was born in Walterboro, SC, on August 19, 1902. He is a graduate of Mercer University undergraduate school, as well as Mercer University Law School. Mercer University is located in Macon, GA, and happens to be the university where my son, Bo, is currently in his second year of undergraduate work.
Judge Bootle is married to the former Virginia Childs. They have three children, Dr. William Augustus Bootle, Jr., Dr. James C. Bootle, and Mrs. Ann B. Hall.
Judge Bootle was admitted to the bar of the State of Georgia in 1925. He was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney to the Middle District of Georgia and served from 1928 to 1929. He was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia and served from 1929 until 1933. He then entered the active practice of law in Macon, GA.
As the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest] said, in 1954, which happened to be 16 days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding the desegregation of public schools in this country, Judge Bootle was appointed to the bench as the Judge for the Middle District of Georgia.
I asked a couple of Judge Bootle's friends to tell me a little bit about him and make a couple of comments regarding the naming of this courthouse after Judge Bootle, and the Honorable Duross Fitzpatrick, who is currently United States District Judge for the Middle District of Georgia, and Mr. Manley Brown, who is a mutual friend practicing law in Macon, GA, sent me these comments.
They said when Judge Bootle was appointed to the court in 1954, the chief Judge was ill and remained so for an extended period of time, and therefore, until 1962, when another Judge was subsequently appointed, Judge Bootle handled all six divisions of the Middle District of Georgia. That included the Athens Division, the Macon Division, the Columbus Division, the Americus Division, the Albany Division, and the Valdosta Division. Those six courthouses covered 71 counties in Georgia.
They say he is a very modest man, who has always shunned publicity and who always said ``I didn't do anything but what I was paid to do.''
Judge Fitzpatrick and Manley Brown refer to Judge Bootle as a lawyer's lawyer and a judge's judge. He was highly respected by lawyers throughout the district for his keen intellect, wonderful sense of humor, and utter fairness. He had no favorites at the bar.
In 1935 he argued and won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a great story teller, who naturally attracts all those around him. He is a very optimistic person and an avid skeet shooter for most of his life.
He developed a cataract in his right eye in the late eighties, and he had an operation on that eye, so it forced him to learn to shoot left handed. On this 90th birthday, Judge Bootle went out and shot skeet, and hit 25 out of 25 clay pigeons.
Two very important decisions that Judge Bootle made that made his mark in history occurred in Athens, GA. He presided at a trial in Athens in 1964 of several members of the Ku Klux Klan who were convicted of following a black Army colonel through town and shooting him point blank as he crossed over the Broad River Bridge in a rural area. This was a high profile case and Judge Bootle was given high marks for the manner in which he handled it.
I quote from a book titled ``Atlanta Rising'' which deals with a lot of history that took place in the Atlanta area during the years of the civil rights era.
There were two black applicants to the University of Georgia, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, who were denied admittance. They filed suit in the Middle District of Georgia, and, quoting from this book, I read as follows:
Two black applicants, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes, went to the court attacking the welter of excuses University of officials had concocted to keep them out. The two made a convincing case that the only reason they had been denied admission was segregation, pure and simple. In a ruling issued late on the afternoon of Friday, January 6, 1961, Judge William A. Bootle ordered Hunter and Holmes admitted to the school, not in 6 months or a year, but bright and early the next Monday morning.
I also called my good friend and former law partner, Lamar Moore, a very distinguished lawyer in Moultrie, GA, and told him we were doing this, and I said, ``Give me a comment about Judge Bootle,''
Lamar said:
Judge Gus Bootle refereed a lot of battles between my clients and the government, mainly the Treasury and the Labor Departments, and I found his calls to be good and all penalties just, particularly those against the Government. Trying a case before Judge Bootle was always a pleasure, and I had been amazed how he recalls the details of amusing incidents after so many years. Put him back on the bench.
Judge Bootle loved the law and legal profession. I would like to quote from a speech which Judge Bootle gave in April of 1995, which I think sums up his philosophy very well.
As I see it, everything that is well organized is beautiful. Everything that functions well is beautiful. All harmony and proportion are beautiful, and so is every success and pursuit of a noble objective. By these exacting standards, law qualifies.
Judge Bootle, I commend you on the many years of public service you gave to this country, and Mr. Speaker, it is very appropriate that we honor Judge Bootle in this way. I ask my colleagues to support the passage of this bill.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, Judge Bootle has served as a mentor for many junior colleagues and associates. He is well-known for his scholarly approach and courtly demeanor. It is fitting and proper to honor the career and contributions of Judge Bootle by this designation.
Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
The Clerk read the bill, as follows:
H.R. 4119
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.
The Federal building and United States courthouse located at 475 Mulberry Street in Macon, Georgia, shall be known and designated as the ``William Augustus Bootle Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.
SEC. 2. REFERENCES.
Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document paper, or the record of the United States to the Federal building and United States courthouse referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a reference to the ``William Augustus Bootle Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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