[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 44 (Thursday, April 18, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      A TRIBUTE TO BYRON R. WHITE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DIANA DeEGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 18, 2002

  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, it is with profound sadness that I rise 
today to recognize the life and contributions of Byron ``Whizzer'' 
White, one of Colorado's most renowned and admirable native sons. 
Retired Supreme Court Justice White died on Monday, April 15, at the 
age of 84, of complications with pneumonia. We have not only lost this 
honorable and esteemed man, we have also lost the last living former 
Supreme Court Justice. I would like to take this opportunity to pay 
tribute to his dedication to our country and his remarkable 
achievements before this body of Congress and this nation.
  White was born in Fort Collins, Colorado in 1917, raised in the 
nearby town of Wellington. White excelled at every aspiration and 
accomplished everything he attempted. Valedictorian of his high school 
and University of Colorado class, White continued to become a Rhodes 
Scholar at Oxford university. He completed his legal studies at Yale 
Law School after serving our country in World War II. ``Whizzer'' White 
was also a legendary All-America football player at University of 
Colorado and played for the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the 
Detroit Lions.
  In 1962, President John F. Kennedy appointed White to the Supreme 
Court of the United States. The new justice joined the Court just as it 
neared the height of its liberal and activist period. White quickly 
evolved into a conservative jurist with a strong independent streak, 
dissenting from many of the court's liberal rulings of the 1960's. Yet 
he was a strong proponent of civil rights for racial minorities. In 
1961, White served to protect the ``Freedom Riders'', the young civil-
rights activists trying to integrate the interstate bus system over the 
objection of Alabama's all-white power structure. White served a 
remarkable 31 years on the Supreme Court as a loyal and devoted 
Democrat before retiring in 1993.
  Mr. Speaker, Byron R. White was a distinguished jurist who served his 
country with the utmost honor and dedication. The ``Whizzer'' remains a 
celebrated figure and a Colorado native son we are very proud to claim 
as one of our own. His exceptional brains, athleticism, and esteemed 
character and devotion to justice will continue to live on through the 
lives of those he has touched. I would like to extend my deepest 
sympathies to White's family and friends during this difficult time of 
remembrance and bereavement.

                          ____________________