[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 91 (Friday, July 1, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SALUTING JUDGE GARY L. TAYLOR FOR HIS DISTINGUISHED SERVICE UPON HIS 
       RETIREMENT AS A FEDERAL JUDGE IN ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. CHRISTOPHER COX

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 30, 2005

  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Judge Gary L. Taylor, who 
is retiring today as a United States District Court judge after a 
remarkable 19-year judicial career.
  Judge Taylor, an Orange County native, graduated from Santa Ana High 
School in 1956 before going on to earn both undergraduate and law 
degrees from the University of California-Los Angeles. Following law 
school, Judge Taylor served his country as a lawyer for the U.S. Army 
in Missouri before moving back to Orange County, where he enjoyed a 
tremendously successful 20-year career as a business litigator.
  Judge Taylor was appointed as a Superior Court Judge by Governor 
George Deukmejian in 1986. Just 4 years later, President George H.W. 
Bush nominated Judge Taylor to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District 
Court for the Central District of California. He was confirmed by the 
Senate without opposition before being sworn into office on October 1, 
1990.
  In his nearly 20 years on the bench, Judge Taylor has demonstrated 
the best qualities of a trial judge: he is a first-rate legal thinker 
who is fair-minded, courteous, and unfailingly ethical. He is uniformly 
respected by the parties and attorneys who appear before him. The 
president of the Federal Bar Association of Orange County has aptly 
called him ``an outstanding jurist''--and to those of us in Orange 
County who know him as a friend, he is indeed that and more.
  Having had the pleasure of knowing Judge Taylor for many years, I can 
attest to his quick, agile mind, his kind and generous manner, and his 
infectious enthusiasm. In the early 1990s, I worked closely with Judge 
Taylor to win congressional approval of a desperately needed federal 
courthouse in Orange County. Before the Ronald Reagan Federal 
Courthouse was built, Judge Taylor and the other Orange County federal 
judges were housed in trailers in Santa Ana, and the lack of adequate 
facilities in Orange County severely impeded the ability of the court 
to serve the taxpayers. Judge Taylor was a tireless advocate for 
building a federal courthouse in Orange County, and his hard work was 
instrumental in convincing the Congress to authorize construction of 
the world-class facility we now enjoy in Santa Ana.
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all of the people of Orange County whom it 
is my privilege to represent, congratulations to Judge Gary L. Taylor 
on an exemplary judicial career and an unfailing commitment to public 
service and the welfare of his fellow citizens.

                          ____________________