[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 15 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 15

  Acknowledging the lifelong service of Griffin Boyette Bell, a legal 
        icon, to the State of Georgia and to the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 16, 2009

 Mr. Chambliss (for himself, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Brown, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. 
   Sessions, Mr. Alexander, and Mr. Cochran) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Acknowledging the lifelong service of Griffin Boyette Bell, a legal 
        icon, to the State of Georgia and to the United States.

Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell was born on October 31, 1918, in Americus, Georgia, 
        to Thelma Leola Pilcher and Adlai Cleveland Bell, a cotton farmer;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell died on January 5, 2009, at Piedmont Hospital in 
        Atlanta, Georgia, after enduring long-term kidney disease and a battle 
        with pancreatic cancer;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell was raised in the Shiloh community outside of 
        Americus until his family moved into Americus to establish a tire retail 
        store;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell proved himself a superior student in the Americus 
        public schools, and later, at Georgia Southwestern College, also in 
        Americus;
Whereas in 1942, Griffin Boyette Bell was drafted into the Army, where he served 
        in the Quartermaster Corps and Transportation Corps;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell, while stationed at Fort Lee, Virginia, met and 
        married Mary Powell, who also had family ties to Americus, Georgia, and 
        they later had one son, Griffin Jr.;
Whereas in 1946, Griffin Boyette Bell, after being discharged from active duty 
        in the Army with the rank of major, enrolled in Mercer University School 
        of Law in Macon, Georgia;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell worked at the law firm of Anderson, Anderson, and 
        Walker while in law school;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell, while still a law student, passed the Georgia bar 
        examination and was appointed city attorney of Warner Robins, Georgia;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell, after graduating with honors from Mercer 
        University School of Law in 1948, practiced law in Savannah, Georgia and 
        Rome, Georgia;
Whereas in 1953, Griffin Boyette Bell accepted an offer to join the Atlanta law 
        firm of Spalding, Sibley, Troutman and Kelley, later renamed King and 
        Spalding;
Whereas in 1958, Griffin Boyette Bell was appointed chief of staff to Governor 
        Ernest Vandiver and, while serving in that capacity, was influential in 
        organizing the Sibley Commission, which mapped Georgia's approach to 
        school desegregation;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell, while chief of staff to Governor Ernest Vandiver, 
        helped moderate State policy concerning civil rights and was 
        instrumental in keeping Georgia's schools open during that turbulent 
        period;
Whereas in 1961, Griffin Boyette Bell was appointed by President John F. Kennedy 
        to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where he 
        served for 14 years and often played an instrumental role in mediating 
        disputes during the peak of the United States civil rights movement;
Whereas in 1976, President Jimmy Carter nominated Griffin Boyette Bell to be the 
        72nd Attorney General of the United States, and he was confirmed to that 
        position on January 25, 1977;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell brought independence and professionalism to the 
        Department of Justice during his tenure as Attorney General by daily 
        posting his third-party contacts, including meetings and calls with the 
        White House, Members of Congress, or other individuals who were not in 
        the Justice Department;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell, in his capacity as Attorney General, advised the 
        Carter administration and helped to increase the number of women and 
        minorities serving on the Federal bench, including by recruiting Wade 
        McCree, an African-American judge for the United States Court of Appeals 
        for the Eighth Circuit, to serve as Solicitor General of the United 
        States and Drew S. Days III, an African-American lawyer for the NAACP 
        Legal Defense Fund, to head the Civil Rights Division of the Department 
        of Justice;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell led negotiations to divide his former appellate 
        court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, then 
        spanning from Georgia to Texas, into two courts: a new United States 
        Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit based in New Orleans and the 
        United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit based in 
        Atlanta;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell, upon resignation as Attorney General in August 
        1979, was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as the Special Ambassador 
        to the Helsinki Convention;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell served as a member of the Secretary of State's 
        Advisory Committee on South Africa from 1985 to 1987;
Whereas in 1989, Griffin Boyette Bell was appointed by President George H. W. 
        Bush as the Vice Chairman of the President's Commission on Federal 
        Ethics Law Reform;
Whereas Griffin Boyette Bell served as counsel to President George H. W. Bush 
        during the Iran-Contra affair investigation;
Whereas in September 2004, Griffin Boyette Bell was appointed Chief Judge of the 
        United States Court of Military Commission Review; and
Whereas, during Griffin Boyette Bell's career as a lawyer, he specialized in 
        corporate internal investigations, many of which were high profile, 
        including investigations of E.F. Hutton following Federal indictments 
        for that firm's cash management practices, Exxon Valdez after an oil 
        spill in Alaska, and Procter and Gamble after rumors circulated that 
        that company's moon-and-stars logo was a satanic symbol: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) acknowledges the lifelong service of Griffin Boyette 
        Bell, a legal icon, to the State of Georgia and to the United 
        States; and
            (2) commends Griffin Boyette Bell for his tenure as 
        Attorney General of the United States and his commitment to the 
        United States civil rights movement.
                                 <all>