[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 134 (Tuesday, October 24, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1891]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         TRIBUTE TO JUDGE SEYBOURN HARRIS LYNNE OF DECATUR, AL

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                    HON. ROBERT E. (BUD) CRAMER, JR.

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 24, 2000

  Mr. CRAMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a man 
respected for his fairness and his dignity all over the country, U.S. 
District Judge Seybourn Lynne. On September 10th, 2000, Judge Lynne, 
this nation's longest-serving federal judge, passed on after living 93 
full and productive years. Since first trying on judges' robes on 
September 1st, 1934, in a Morgan County courtroom, Lynne brought 
respectability and honor to the profession.
  Lynne saw this country and the Northern District of Alabama through 
some rocky years. When this country entered World War II, Lynne 
resigned as a circuit judge to serve in the armed services. He presided 
over some 50 court-martial cases before serving in the Pacific as Staff 
Judge Advocate in the Air Force. It was there in Hawaii where he 
received a call from President Harry Truman asking him to accept the 
nomination for a federal judgeship.
  In his home state of Alabama, Lynne served through the conflicted 
civil rights era. In 1963, Lynne issued an order halting Alabama 
Governor George Wallace from blocking black students, Vivian Malone 
Jones and James Hood, from attending the University of Alabama. After 
threatening Wallace with contempt of court and possible jail time, 
Lynne presided over the negotiations between Wallace and President 
Kennedy's administration that led to the students' entrance into the 
university. Hard working until the day he died, Judge Lynne, even in 
his 90's, traveled weekly from his home to the Hugo Black Courthouse in 
downtown Birmingham.
  Judge Lynne was a son of Decatur growing up a few blocks away from 
where a federal courthouse is now named in his honor. Lynne was a 
religious man serving as a trustee and Life Deacon of Southside Baptist 
Church in Birmingham. He stayed involved in his community as a trustee 
for the Crippled Childrens Clinic and the Eye Foundation Hospital. 
There is a Seybourn H. Lynne scholarship fund set up at the University 
of Alabama School of Law and his alma mater recently honored him by 
presenting him the Pipes Award by Farrah Law Society in February of 
this year.
  Justice in Alabama has lost a true friend. Judge Lynne has set the 
standard for lawyers and judges across this country. He loved the law 
and he loved our court system. I send my condolences to his family, his 
colleagues and his friends.

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