[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 23, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4961-S4962]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    DEATH OF JUDGE EDWARD R. BECKER

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, the country, the judiciary, and the Senate 
have lost a patriot, a great man of character and integrity, a gifted 
judge, and a trusted friend with the passing last week of U.S. Circuit 
Judge Edward Becker.
  Edward Roy Becker was born on May 4, 1933, in his beloved 
Philadelphia.
  He practiced law there for more than a decade, until President 
Richard Nixon appointed him to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania in 1970.
  President Ronald Reagan elevated Judge Becker to the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1981. The Third Circuit considers 
appeals from Federal district courts in Delaware, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, and the Virgin Islands.
  Judge Becker eventually served as the Third Circuit's chief judge for 
5 years before taking senior status on his 70th birthday in 2003.
  Edward Becker lived for nearly all of his 73 years in his boyhood 
home in the Frankford section of Philadelphia.
  He read legal briefs while riding the train to the courthouse, where 
he was known for what the New York Times described as a lack of 
grandiosity rarely found in a Federal court.
  With an uncanny ability to play virtually any song by ear on the 
piano, Judge Becker accompanied Supreme Court Justices at their annual 
sing-a-longs that the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist hosted for 
the law clerks.
  When part of Independence National Historic Park, which he could see 
from his chambers window, was closed after the September 11 terrorist 
attacks, Judge Becker supported the efforts of a citizens' coalition 
which succeeded in getting the street reopened in 2003.
  Judge Becker was not just any Federal judge.
  After more than 35 years on the bench, he was certainly a senior 
member of the Federal judiciary.
  But he served not only the cause of justice but also the institution 
of the judiciary in such capacities as the board of directors of the 
Federal Judicial Center and the executive committee of the Judicial 
Conference of the United States.
  His many and varied writings covered topics ranging from the federal 
sentencing guidelines and rules of evidence to the sixth amendment's 
confrontation clause and even law journal footnotes.
  Imagine that, an entire law journal article about law journal 
footnotes.
  Judge Becker made his judicial mark in many ways. Judges write 
opinions that follow or apply principles established by the Supreme 
Court. Judge Becker did that as well but also wrote landmark opinions 
establishing rules or principles that would later be adopted by the 
Supreme Court.
  His 1985 opinion in United States v. Downing, for example, adopted a 
standard regarding expert witness testimony.
  The Supreme Court cited Judge Becker's opinion in Downing when it 
adopted the same standard 8 years later in its famous Daubert v. 
Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals decision.
  Judge Becker was also known for his knowledge and expertise in 
handling complex litigation.
  He served on the board of editors for the ``Manual for Complex 
Litigation'' and handled many such cases during his years on the bench.
  In 1996, for example, he wrote the opinion in Georgine v. Amchem 
Products concluding that the factual and legal issues in a lawsuit 
against asbestos manufacturers were too complex to allow certification 
of the suit as a class action.
  Judge Becker's expertise in the area of complex litigation in 
general, and asbestos cases in particular, led to his role in our 
ongoing struggle here in the Senate with the asbestos crisis.
  He provided invaluable counsel and assistance to the Judiciary 
Committee, and his enormous wisdom, credibility, and integrity helped 
guide many complex discussions and negotiations. Every party to those 
discussions knew that Judge Becker was a straight shooter, a completely 
honest broker.
  Judge Becker could have considered his a strictly judicial role, 
limited to handling the cases that came before him, but Judge Becker 
looked past the walls of his courtroom at the judiciary as an 
institution, the justice system, and the country. He wanted to see the 
grand principles of justice and fairness actually work in people's 
lives.
  Judge Becker was not afraid to wade into other choppy waters in the 
interest of the judicial branch.
  Joined by several leading appeals court judges including now-
Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Judge Becker sought in 1989 to make 
some sense out of what had become an almost absurd process for hiring 
judicial law clerks.
  Judges were interviewing students barely finished with their first 
year of law school. Judge Becker believed that the trend disrupted the 
studies of law students and demeaned the judiciary's reputation. This 
was classic Judge Becker. He did not have to tackle such a touchy 
subject.
  Previous efforts to change the law clerk hiring system had failed, 
and the problem was worse than ever. But he cared so much for the 
integrity of the judiciary, and for the individuals who served in it, 
that he tackled it nonetheless. And he did it with the straightforward, 
no-nonsense, commonsense practicality that characterized everything he 
did.
  Judge Becker both loved and was beloved by his colleagues.
  He organized a panel of current and former Third Circuit judges to 
testify on behalf of their colleague Judge Samuel Alito upon his recent 
nomination to the Supreme Court. That panel was diverse, opinionated, 
and completely united in support of their colleague.
  Judge Becker and Flora, his wife of nearly 50 years, kept in close 
touch even with retired colleagues and with colleagues' spouses after 
they died.
  In addition to Flora, Judge Becker is survived by his children--Jon, 
a teacher in Brooklyn; Susan, a Federal prosecutor in Philadelphia--and 
Charles, a lawyer in Philadelphia--and several grandchildren.
  Our colleague, the senior Senator from Pennsylvania, was a close 
friend of Judge Becker for more than 50 years. He has said that Judge 
Becker was one of the greatest Philadephians in that great city's 
history. That is high praise indeed, considering the pantheon of 
patriots coming from the birthplace of the Constitution.
  Judge Becker embodied so much that is great about this country. He 
cared deeply about principles of fairness and justice. He wanted those 
principles actually to work. He was both part of a collegial judicial 
body and a unique individual with his own personality and character.
  He would go to baseball games but take legal briefs with him to read.
  His colleague, Judge Marjorie Rendell, once described Judge Becker as 
``the perfect combination of Mensa and mensch.''

[[Page S4962]]

  One of the historic preservationists who worked with Judge Becker to 
reopen the street in front of Independence Hall said of Judge Becker: 
``He was one step below the Supreme Court, but he's such an everyday 
man.''
  Proverbs 16:19 offers a maxim that fits Judge Becker to a tee: 
``Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide 
the spoil with the proud.''
  By his character, personality, and wisdom, Edward Roy Becker made 
anyone who knew him better for the experience.
  The judiciary, the country, and yes, the Senate, are better because 
this good man walked and worked with us.

                          ____________________