[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 8, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H360-H362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1445
           JOHN MILTON BRYAN SIMPSON UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 315) to designate the United States Courthouse at 300 North 
Hogan Street, Jacksonville, Florida, as the ``John Milton Bryan Simpson 
United States Courthouse''.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 315

       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 at 300 North Hogan Street, 
     Jacksonville, Florida, shall be known and designated as the 
     ``John Milton Bryan Simpson 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 ``John Milton Bryan Simpson United States 
     Courthouse''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Stearns). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster) and the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster).
  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 315, introduced by my colleague, the gentlewoman 
from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown), will designate the United States 
courthouse located at 300 North Hogan Street in Jacksonville as the 
``John Milton Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse.''
  Born in Kissimmee, Florida, John Simpson progressed through what 
would be called by any reasonable person a long, distinguished, and 
publicly oriented career. After receiving his law degree from the 
University of Florida, and 7 years of private practice, John Simpson 
would begin what would result in a career in public service spanning 54 
years. He began as an Assistant State's Attorney, served 2 years in the 
United States Army during World War II, and was a State judge for 9 
years before being nominated to the Federal bench in 1950.
  On the Federal bench, Judge Simpson was not content to just serve out 
his time. He served as Chief Judge for three different courts, the 
Southern and Middle District Courts of Florida, and the Fifth Circuit 
Court of Appeals. He served on the Conference of Chief Judges for 3 
years and was willingly reassigned twice, first from the Southern to 
Middle District Courts of Florida, and again from the Fifth to Eleventh 
Circuit Court of Appeals, each time to fit the needs of the judiciary.
  During his tenure on the bench, he was also instrumental in moving 
towards desegregation in Northern Florida during the late 1950s and 
early 1960s. His record of service and dedication to the judiciary are 
both commendable and make him worthy of this honor.
  I support the legislation, and I encourage all of my colleagues to do 
the same.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Crenshaw), the Florida delegation, the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, and everyone who served on the Courthouse Committee in 
Jacksonville for helping me to bring this bill to the Floor today. 
Judge Simpson

[[Page H361]]

was the overwhelming choice for the people of Jacksonville, and it is 
easy to understand when one learns about his impact on civil rights in 
the State of Florida and in the entire South.
  H.R. 315 is a bill to designate the courthouse at 300 North Hogan 
Street in Jacksonville, Florida as the ``John Milton Bryan Simpson 
United States Courthouse.'' Judge Simpson was a native of Florida, born 
in Kissimmee, Florida on May 30 of 1903. He attended local high school 
and the University of Florida, and in 1926 graduated from law school at 
the University of Florida.
  After law school, he settled in Jacksonville, practicing law in 
addition to becoming an Assistant State's Attorney from 1933 until 
1939. He then ran for and was elected as a State Judge serving from 
1939 until 1943. In 1950, he was nominated by President Truman for the 
United States District Court, Southern Florida; and in 1966, was 
nominated by President Johnson and joined the Fifth Circuit Court of 
Appeals.
  Judge Simpson was an active participant in the struggle for civil 
rights and was instrumental in desegregating Duval, Orlando, and 
Daytona Counties in Florida, all in my district. He became an agent for 
change in the Jim Crowe south. His judicial orders desegregated the 
schools, city pools, city golf courses, and the city zoo. For his 
personal courage, he was the subject of numerous death threats and 
cross burnings.
  It is well known that Martin Luther King himself appeared before 
Judge Simpson and argued for a reversal on a ban on nighttime civil 
rights marching in St. Augustine. Within a week, Judge Simpson issued 
an order in support of King's appeal.
  Judge Simpson was known as the giant of the legal system in 
Jacksonville. He was a man of great courage and fairness. It is most 
fitting that the new courthouse in Jacksonville is named in his honor.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill which honors a 
judge of great distinction and character.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw).
  Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time. I join my colleague as an original cosponsor of this resolution 
in urging my colleagues to support this.
  It is fitting that this new Federal courthouse, which stands 15 
stories tall in my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, and casts such a 
shadow over our city, it is fitting that it is going to be named after 
Judge Bryan Simpson who, while he served for 50 years in our community, 
was a giant of a man who cast his own shadow all across our community.
  My colleagues have heard a little bit about his background and some 
of his professional career, but I had the good fortune of knowing Judge 
Simpson. I had the good fortune of being a friend of his son, Bryan 
Simpson, Jr. My dad and Judge Simpson practiced law together as young 
lawyers in Jacksonville, and the one thing about Judge Simpson is that 
as the father of Bryan Simpson, Jr., and he had five stepchildren, Joe, 
Tim, John, Eve, and Franklin, above all, he had this underlying belief 
in the dignity of every human being, and he lived out that belief in 
everything that he did.
  Maybe that came from the life experiences that he had growing up in a 
little town in central Florida. His mother was the U.S. Postmistress of 
the U.S. Post Office there in Kissimmee. He went to Osceola High School 
and then went north to school to Gainesville, Florida, about 50 miles 
up the road. Often he would hitchhike, catch a ride up to Gainesville, 
and he would stop in a little town called Orlando and have lunch 
because there was a park there where people would kind of gather, and 
he would always find a friend there and share lunch together.
  He finished school in 6 years. He got an undergraduate degree and a 
law degree. It usually takes 7 years, but Judge Simpson was part of a 
special program. He finished in 6 years, which was good for him, 
because he worked his way through law school, and it only took 6 
instead of 7 years. He often waited tables at a little place called the 
Primrose Grill.
  Then he moved to Jacksonville, Florida, to start his law practice. He 
worked in a firm where my dad also worked as a young lawyer, and he 
always was a man of great humor. As a young lawyer, my dad used to tell 
me that he made about $40 a month. Judge Simpson was a little older, so 
he might have made $45 a month, but on one of his applications, it 
said, List your hobbies and your interests. And Judge Simpson wrote, 
Polo and international yacht racing. So when one of his senior partners 
came in and was a little upset and said, What is all this; what does 
this mean? Judge Simpson said, I am interested in polo and 
international yacht racing, but on my present salary, I am not really 
able to participate in those activities.
  But be that as it may, he continued his career. He wanted to be a 
judge, so he ran for judge. In those days you could be a State judge by 
running for office. He had two uncles that had served in the United 
States Senate. He knew a little bit about politics, so he ran for 
office and became a State judge.
  Then, World War II came along, so he went to Europe to serve his 
country. His job there was to go around after the battles took place, 
his job was to go into communities and try to rebuild the government. 
And he used to kid people that his limited French was learned in World 
War II. He could say, ``Ou est la maire?'' which meant, ``Where is the 
mayor?'' Because that is the first thing he would do when he got to the 
community, find out who the old mayor was and try to build this new 
government.
  He came back from the war, back to Jacksonville, continued his work 
as a State judge and then, as has been pointed out, was appointed to 
the Federal bench by then-President Harry Truman. Fifteen years later, 
then-President Lyndon Johnson appointed him to the appeals court, which 
is one step down from the United States Supreme Court, and he served as 
the Chief Judge on the Fifth and the Eleventh Circuit.
  So he had kind of a broad-ranging career, up until the time he went 
to Federal court. And as has been pointed out, he was a real leader in 
stepping forward, being fair, being compassionate in a difficult time 
in our Nation's history when not all of the judges, particularly in the 
South, were fair and compassionate. In fact, it was kind of the way, in 
those days, for Federal judges who did not believe in what was going on 
in the civil rights movement to simply delay their decisions and just 
delay and delay and delay.
  Judge Simpson was known not only as a man of courage and conviction, 
but someone who made his rulings firmly and decisively and quickly. So 
I think it is fitting that we honor him today.
  As I said, he lived his life in a way that brought dignity to all the 
people in his courtroom. I think he certainly deserves this kind of 
recognition, and I am proud to support this resolution, and I urge my 
colleagues to do so as well.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional 
speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I just want to say I appreciate the 
gentleman's remarks on Judge Simpson. He personalized it and once again 
pointed out that only in America could somebody come from such humble 
beginnings and rise through the ranks of the American judiciary, and 
today we are naming a Federal courthouse after him.
  So I have no further speakers. I encourage all of my colleagues to 
support H.R. 315.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 315, a bill to 
designate the United States Courthouse located at 300 North Hogan St., 
Jacksonville, Florida, as the ``John Milton Bryan Simpson United States 
Courthouse''. I commend the bill's sponsor, the gentlelady from 
Florida, for her diligence and hard work in pursuit of honoring such an 
eminent jurist.
  Judge Simpson was chosen for this distinction from among 20 nominees 
of prominent civic leaders and jurists who have played an outstanding 
role in the history of the middle district of Florida.
  Judge Simpson was a native Floridian. He was born in 1903 in 
Kissimmee and attended local public schools. In 1926 he graduated from 
the University of Florida Law School. In

[[Page H362]]

1950, after a long career in private practice and as a judge in Florida 
state court, President Truman appointed Judge Simpson to the U.S. 
District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In 1966, President 
Johnson appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth 
Circuit. Judge Simpson also later served on the U.S. Court of Appeals 
for the Eleventh Circuit.
  Judge Simpson was known for his extraordinary personal courage and 
insistence on racial equality. Judge Simpson issued landmark decisions 
on desegregation, including ordering the desegregation of public 
schools in Orlando and Daytona Beach and ordering the desegregation of 
Jacksonville city pools and golf courses. With these decisions, he 
established a model for all such future decisions. Judge Simpson was 
also a devoted father and husband. His family, friends and colleagues 
enjoyed his companionship and his love of life.
  It is fitting to honor the career of Judge Simpson and I urge my 
colleagues to support H.R. 315.
  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 315.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________