[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 18 (Thursday, February 8, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E143-E144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     COMMENDING FEDERAL JUDGE J. ROBERT ELLIOTT UPON HIS RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MAC COLLINS

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 8, 2001

  Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, the lives of some public men are like sandy 
riverbanks. They are swept molded and sometimes even swept away by the 
swirling currents of popular passion and trendy opinion.
  Others are like breakwaters. Their lives are built on principles that 
keep them steadily in place even in the face of such a torrent.
  U.S. Judge J. Robert Elliott is just such a man. He retired this 
December at age 91 from the U.S. Federal Court in Columbus making him 
the longest-serving judge in the Federal Courts' history. During this 
long career, he was faced with many difficult and politically charged 
cases ranging from civil rights, to the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam, and 
more recently, protest marches at the School of the Americas.
  Judge Elliott is the son of a Methodist preacher and began developing 
those solid principles at his father's knee. They continued to be 
molded during the depths of Great Depression as he first worked as a 
teacher and then later as he attended and was a graduate from Emory 
University Law School. Through it all he developed a profound respect 
for the absolute necessity of distinguishing between right and wrong, 
the value of hard work, the importance of common sense, and the 
indispensable nature of the rule of law in a free society.
  These principles continued to serve him after he was appointed as a 
Federal judge. Judge Elliott worked 51 weeks a year for almost four 
decades on the bench. He did all of his own research and writing, 
unlike many other Federal judges who rely on law clerks.
  He ruled his courtroom with common sense as well as a dry sense of 
humor. The Columbus Ledger Enquirer recounts that an attorney once 
approached the bench to whisper: ``Your honor, one of the jurors is 
asleep.''
  ``It seems so,'' Judge Elliot replied.
  ``Aren't you going to wake him up?'' the lawyer asked.
  ``You put him to sleep--you wake him up,'' Judge Elliott responded.

[[Page E144]]

  Judge Elliott's commitment to the rule of law was put to the test 
after President John F. Kennedy appointed him to the Federal Bench in 
1962. The civil rights campaign was beginning to heat up with marches, 
demonstrations, and outbreaks of violence. Judge Elliott was steeped in 
the Southern traditions of those times. As Governor Herman Talmadge's 
floor leader in the Georgia House, he had taken strong positions on 
such issues, even advocating a ``Whites only'' primary.
  But when he raised his hand and swore to uphold the Constitution of 
the United States, this obligation superceded any personal opinions or 
past political positions. He proved that a man of integrity would 
enforce laws that he might have opposed in the past. He had sworn to 
uphold the law and he stood by his oath ordering desegregation of 
businesses, schools and public places.
  His rulings were not always without controversy as he applied common 
sense to try to bring a balance between the competing interests of 
public safety and the right to protest. He issued an injunction 
stopping marches in Albany, GA to try and cool dangerously heated 
passions, but later ordered the City of Albany to stop arresting 
peaceful civil rights marchers. He ordered districts to desegregate 
schools. Despite sharp criticism from both sides of th controversy, the 
appellate courts eventually vindicated him.
  Later, when the nation was most deeply divided by the Vietnam War, 
Judge Elliott courageously overturned the military conviction of Lt. 
William Calley for the 1971 My Lai Massacre in South Vietnam because 
the fierce pre-trial publicity had robbed the defendant of any chance 
for a fair trial.
  Judge Elliott was not afraid to take on big corporations. When he 
learned that chemical giant DuPont had concealed evidence during a 1993 
civil trial concerning the fungicide Benlate, he slapped the firm with 
a $115 million penalty. Prior to his decision, DuPont had taken out 
numerous full-page advertisements declaring its innocence. The 
company's refusal to accept responsibility led Judge Elliott to offer a 
decrease in the penalty if the firm published full-page ads admitting 
it was wrong. DuPont still balked at the advertisements, but was 
eventually forced to settle the lawsuit and pay a multi-million-dollar 
fine.
  Most recently Judge Elliott has displayed his rare blend of respect 
for the law, common sense and compassion in dealing with the annual 
protests at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning. He was lenient 
with first-time offenders, but hard on the demonstrators who repeatedly 
trespassed on military property. He sentenced several of them to 
prison, living up to his nickname, ``Maximum Bob.''
  Judge Elliott's rulings may have generated some comment over the 
years, but not because he wasn't consistent in his insistence on the 
rule of law. We live in a day when truth is constantly undermined by 
``deconstruction''; the meaning of the word ``is'' is subject to 
redefinition; and so-called legal scholars advocate that the 
Constitution be stretched and ``reinterpreted'' to fit any transient 
political whim. We should be grateful for a principled man like Judge 
J. Robert Elliott whose lifetime of service reminds us that the 
Constitution and the law actually mean what they say.
  Judge Elliott had been an elected politician before ascending to the 
bench and he knew the difference between being a legislator and a 
jurist. He understood that as a politician, his duty was to make laws, 
but as a judge, his job was to fairly apply the law, as written by the 
legislators, in his courtroom. This critical distinction has become 
obscured in recent years because too many judges have taken to 
legislating from the bench and, in the process, attempting to rewrite 
laws to suit their personal preferences.
  Mr. Speaker, throughout his life, but especially during his four 
decades on the federal bench, Judge J. Robert Elliott has been a credit 
to his native state of Georgia, and the community of Columbus. His 
departure is our loss. My hope is that the President and the other body 
will refer to Judge Elliott's example as they consider future judicial 
appointments. My prayer is that all such future appointees will have 
Judge Elliott's reverence for our Constitution and the rule of the law 
and his personal characteristics of hard work, integrity. If they do, 
we will have judges who will be faithful to the call of ensuring 
justice for all, and will leave legislation to the elected 
representatives of the people.

                          ____________________