[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4536 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4536

To designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located 
 at 600 East First Street in Rome, Georgia, as the ``Harold L. Murphy 
            Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 13, 2024

Mr. Ossoff (for himself and Mr. Warnock) introduced the following bill; 
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 
                              Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located 
 at 600 East First Street in Rome, Georgia, as the ``Harold L. Murphy 
            Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Judge Harold L. Murphy was born in Felton, Georgia, in 
        1927.
            (2) He attended West Georgia College before serving in the 
        United States Navy during the closing years of World War II.
            (3) He resumed his studies at the University of Mississippi 
        and the University of Georgia School of Law, where he graduated 
        in 1949.
            (4) He began a law practice in Haralson County, Georgia, 
        and in 1950 was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives 
        as the youngest Member at the time.
            (5) Judge Murphy served five consecutive terms before 
        stepping down in 1961 to focus on practicing law.
            (6) In 1971, Judge Murphy was appointed by Governor Jimmy 
        Carter to the Superior Court for the Tallapoosa Judicial 
        Circuit, and following his election in 1976, President Carter 
        nominated Judge Murphy to the United States District Court for 
        the Northern District of Georgia.
            (7) Judge Murphy was confirmed by the United States Senate 
        on July 28, 1977.
            (8) For 45 years, he served his country on the Federal 
        bench and became an acclaimed jurist and legal icon with a 
        stellar reputation that extended far beyond Georgia.
            (9) He always displayed a quick wit and a keen sense of 
        humor, was kind and empathetic, and treated all those who 
        appeared before him with courtesy and respect.
            (10) Judge Murphy worked tirelessly and carried a full 
        docket until the age of 90, when he took senior judge status in 
        the Northern District of Georgia.
            (11) He continued to preside over cases until his death on 
        December 28, 2022.
            (12) Judge Murphy received many professional awards and 
        recognitions, including from the State Bar of Georgia and the 
        University of Georgia School of Law.
            (13) In 2014, Alabama State University renamed its graduate 
        school after Judge Murphy in recognition of his landmark ruling 
        in Knight v. Alabama, a long-running case that the Eleventh 
        Circuit Court of Appeals asked him to handle involving the 
        vestiges of racial segregation then present in the Alabama 
        University System.
            (14) Above all else, Judge Murphy was a loving and devoted 
        husband and father--and a strong role model.

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION.

    The Federal building and United States courthouse located at 600 
East First Street in Rome, Georgia, shall be known and designated as 
the ``Harold L. Murphy Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.

SEC. 3. REFERENCES.

    Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other 
record of the United States to the Federal building and United States 
courthouse referred to in section 2 shall be deemed to be a reference 
to the ``Harold L. Murphy Federal Building and United States 
Courthouse''.
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