[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 3, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H7798-H7800]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           WINSTON E. ARNOW FEDERAL BUILDING DESIGNATION ACT

  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1572) to designate the historic Federal District Court 
Building located at 100 North Palafox Street in Pensacola, Florida, as 
the ``Winston E. Arnow Federal Building,'' as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 1572

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

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The United States courthouse located at 100 North Palafox 
     Street in Pensacola, Florida, shall be known and designated 
     as the ``Winston E. Arnow United States Courthouse''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the United States 
     courthouse referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a 
     reference to the ``Winston E. Arnow United States 
     Courthouse''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to welcome everybody back after our 
recess, and I have to confess a little bit of disorientation. As I 
walked into the Chamber today, I thought for a moment I was in the 
Committee on Financial Services when I see Mrs. Cole, now a member of 
the Clerk's office, and I congratulate the Clerk on that hire; and 
further I am confused by the whiskers growing on the Parliamentarian's 
chin.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1527, as amended, was introduced by the gentleman 
from Florida (Mr. Miller) and it designates the historic building 
located at 100 North Palafox Street as the Winston E. Arnow Federal 
Building.
  This bill was amended during subcommittee markup to make some minor 
technical changes relating to the designation of the building. These 
changes were made with the full support of the bill's sponsor, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller).
  Judge Arnow was born in 1911 in Micanopy, Florida. He attended the 
University of Florida, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1932 
and his law degree in 1933. He was admitted to the bar, and for 2 years 
served as a research clerk for the Florida Supreme Court, the first 
person to hold such a position.
  From 1935 to 1942, he worked in private practice, when he was called 
to serve in the Army infantry for a year before being transferred to 
the Judge Advocate General Corps, wherein he was discharged as a major 
in 1945.
  From 1946 until 1967, Judge Arnow practiced law as a partner in the 
firm of Clayton and Arnow. While in private practice, Judge Arnow 
served as a member and as chairman of the numerous bar committees, 
including the Steering Committee for Florida Civil Practices Before 
Trial and Committees on Continuing Legal Education and Rules of Civil 
Practice.

[[Page H7799]]

  He was a member of the Florida Bar Committee that wrote the 1954 
Consolidated Rules of Civil Procedure, in addition to authoring or 
coauthoring several other books and articles on the topic.
  In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Bo Arnow to serve as a 
judge for the United States District Court, Northern District of 
Florida. During his tenure, he served first as a Judge, then as chief 
judge from 1969 until he took senior status in 1981.
  Judge Arnow has been recognized for his achievements by the 
University of Florida, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Order of 
the Coif, an important legal honor society, as well as by the Judicial 
Conference for the 11th Circuit.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a fitting tribute to a dedicated public servant. 
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1572 is a bill to designate the Federal Building in 
Pensacola, Florida, as the Winston E. Arnow United States Federal 
Courthouse.
  Judge Arnow was a native son of Florida. He was born in 1911 in 
Micanopy, Florida, attended public schools, and graduated from the 
University of Florida in 1932. He received his law degree in 1933. 
Judge Arnow was a World War II veteran, serving in the infantry in the 
United States Army.
  Although he graduated from college and law school during the 
Depression, Winston Arnow became the first research clerk at the 
Supreme Court of Florida. He then practiced law for 30 years in 
Gainesville. President Johnson appointed him to the Federal bench in 
1968. In 1969, he became the senior judge, and served in that capacity 
until 1981. As senior judge, Judge Arnow continued his work on the 
bench until his death in 1994.
  Judge Arnow was instrumental in enforcing civil rights law during the 
critical period from 1969 through 1978. He based his decisions on the 
strength of the Constitution, and his decisions leave a legacy of 
fairness and integrity. On the bench he was all business and showed no 
favoritism. His social and economic decisions had a profound effect on 
the social fabric of Northern Florida.
  In 1972, Judge Arnow's decisions regarding the Naval Live Oaks 
Reservations ended a long and controversial dispute over ownership, 
when he declared the historic woodland in the Gulf to be owned by the 
citizens of the United States.
  He was a warm and gracious judge, generous with his time and advice. 
Judge Arnow was a fearless decision-maker, known for integrity and 
honesty. This designation is a fitting tribute to his long and 
distinguished career. I support this legislation and urge its adoption.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as 
he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller), the author 
of this legislation, and to congratulate him for shepherding this 
legislation to the floor today.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding 
me time.
  Mr. Speaker, it is indeed my distinct privilege to rise today as the 
House considers H.R. 1572, a bill to designate the Historic Federal 
District Court Building located at 100 North Palafox street in 
Pensacola, Florida, as the Winston E. Arnow Federal Building.
  Since the United States District Court in the Northern District of 
Florida moved to a new courthouse location in 1999, this building has 
been undergoing a major renovation and is expected to be ready for 
occupancy in the latter part of 2004. Occupying the building will be 
the Bankruptcy Unit of the District Court, the United States Probation 
Offices and a portion of the District Court, eventually including a 
U.S. District Judge and staff. The building will become an integral 
part of the Florida Northern District Court in Pensacola.
  Mr. Speaker, earlier this year I introduced this measure to provide a 
fitting tribute to the service and life of a man who did so much for 
northwest Florida. He is widely acknowledged as the judge who made the 
hard decisions that reshaped our local area in the late sixties and 
seventies. Judge Arnow's decisions have shaped northern Florida's 
governments, its schools and its jails. These courageous decisions, 
which led to numerous threats on his life, have stood the test of time.
  A man of honesty and rigid judicial integrity, Judge Arnow believed 
that a Judge had to follow the Constitution, the statutes and appellate 
precedents. He did not care whether he liked them or not. He did this 
as his duty, and he did it as he saw it, regardless of who the litigant 
or the lawyer was.
  He was a friendly, soft-spoken country lawyer. Friends and colleagues 
regarded Judge Arnow as a southern gentleman in the traditional sense; 
very formal in court, yet very warm and friendly in everyday life. An 
avid sportsman, he was a good shooter and could frequently be found in 
his mint-condition green Jeep on his way to a dove hunt.
  Today, the name Judge Winston E. ``Bo'' Arnow is an integral part of 
the revolutionary period from 1969 to 1978 in northwest Florida when he 
followed U.S. Supreme Court mandates to ensure the election of blacks, 
public school desegregation, and the new Escambia County Jail to 
improve living conditions of the inmates.
  He was the first Federal Judge to be a Pensacola resident since 1934. 
He served as Chief Judge of the Northern District of Florida stretching 
from Pensacola to Gainesville until 1981. He was still on the bench 
into his eighties, dying at the age of 83 on November 28, 1994.
  Judicial associates saw Judge Arnow as all integrity, ignoring 
criticism by doing what he thought was the right and proper thing to do 
to protect civil liberties. In court he was all business. Once on the 
bench, he had no friends, only the fairness of law, and he took great 
pride in giving stern direction to wayward lawyers. His philosophy was, 
``Be on time and be damn ready when you get there.'' He was polite and 
he was fair, and exercised a no-nonsense attitude in his jurisprudence.
  Judge Arnow went out of his way to protect the rights of the accused, 
and yet was equally stern in sentencing the guilty. His social and 
governmental decisions had profound effect; election of the first black 
county commissioner since Reconstruction; construction of the Escambia 
County Jail and renovation of the Santa Rosa County Jail. In 1972, as 
we have already heard, Judge Arnow ended the long-simmering dispute 
over ownership of the Naval Life Oaks Reservation by declaring the 
historic woodland in the Gulf Island National Seashore belonged to the 
people of the United States.
  A political conservative and a strict constructionist, Judge Arnow 
believed firmly in the United States Constitution and followed the 
statutes and higher Federal Court decisions to the letter, even if he 
may have personally disagreed.
  The people of northwest Florida, past, present and future, owe a debt 
of gratitude to Judge Arnow's wife, the former Frances Day Cease, and 
his daughter, Ann Arnow Moulton, for sharing their husband and father 
with northwest Florida for so many years.
  I want to thank the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 
the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Ohio, and his ranking 
member, the gentlewoman from District of Columbia, for their assistance 
in getting this bill to the floor today. I also want to thank my 24 
colleagues from the Great State of Florida for their co-sponsorship.
  I urge my colleagues to support this measure to recognize a legacy of 
American fairness by a man whose decisions were in the right spirit of 
the instrument in which he believed most, the Constitution of the 
United States of America.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume simply to correct the record earlier so we do not get inundated 
with phone calls relative to the aforementioned whiskers not belonging 
to Mr. Johnson, the Parliamentarian, but to his distinguished 
colleague, Mr. Sullivan.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and urge passage of 
the bill.

[[Page H7800]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1572, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to 
designate the United States courthouse located at 100 North Palafox 
Street in Pensacola, Florida, as the `Winston E. Arnow United States 
Courthouse'.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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