[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 5, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   JUDGE WILLIAM B. BRYANT ANNEX TO THE E. BARRETT PRETTYMAN FEDERAL 
                 BUILDING AND UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 5, 2004

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, this bill has an unusual origin. The Chief 
Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, for 
himself and the members of the trial court, visited my office to 
request that the annex under construction for the E. Barrett Prettyman 
Federal Building be named for senior U.S. District Court Judge William 
B. Bryant. Judge Bryant was unaware of the desires and actions of his 
colleagues, who unanimously agreed to request that the annex be named 
for the judge. It is rare that Congress names a courthouse or an annex 
for a judge who has served in that court and even more rare for a judge 
who is still sitting. Judge Bryant's colleagues, who know his work and 
his temperament best, have found a particularly appropriate way for our 
city and our country to celebrate the life and accomplishments of a 
great judge. I know Judge Bryant personally, I know his reputation in 
this city and on the law, I know that the request to name the annex for 
Judge Bryant reflects deep respect for his unusually distinguished life 
at the bar.
  Judge Bryant began his career in private practice in the segregated 
Washington of the 1940s and 50s, when African-American lawyers were 
barred from membership in the District of Columbia Bar Association and 
from using the Bar law library. He established his legal reputation as 
a partner in the legendary African-American law firm of Houston, Bryant 
and Gardner and taught at Howard University Law School. His reputation 
as an extraordinary trial lawyer led to his appointment as the first 
African-American Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. 
He rose to become the first African-American to serve as Chief Judge of 
the U.S. District Court whose members now ask that the annex be named 
for Judge Bryant.
  For his representation of criminal defendants in private practice, 
Judge Bryant was admired as one of the city's best and most respected 
lawyers. Among his many notable cases is the landmark Mallory v. United 
States, 354 U.S. 449 (1957), where the Supreme Court ruled that an 
arrested person must be promptly brought before a judicial officer.
  Judge Bryant graduated from D.C. public schools, Howard University 
and Howard Law School, where he was first in his class. After 
graduation, Judge Bryant served as chief research assistant to Dr. 
Ralphe Bunche when Bunche worked with Gunnar Myrdal, the famous Swedish 
economist, in his studies of American racial issues. Judge Bryant 
served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was honorably 
discharged as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1947.
  Judge Bryant, who is 92, took senior status in 1982. He raised a 
family but, as Chief Judge Thomas Hogan wrote, ``lost his beloved wife, 
Astaire and now lives alone--with this Court and the law as the center 
of his life.''
  I am grateful to our judges of the U.S. District Court here for the 
thoughtful proposal that the annex to their court be named for Judge 
William B. Bryant. The residents of this city that Judge Bryant has 
served so well and the members of the bar here would be particularly 
pleased. I am delighted that Senator Patrick Leahy, ranking member of 
the Senate Judiciary Committee, has agreed to sponsor this bill in the 
Senate and I urge rapid approval to give honor to one of the great 
judges of our court.

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