[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 129 (Thursday, September 23, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1727-E1728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




KANSAS FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE WESLEY BROWN STILL HEARING CASES AT 
                                AGE 103

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 23, 2010

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to take note of U.S. 
District Court Judge Wesley Brown, who is still hearing cases in his 
chambers in Wichita, Kansas, at the age of 103. Appointed to the 
federal bench by President John F. Kennedy, Judge Brown has taken 
senior status but still hears cases and is now the oldest sitting 
federal judge in the United States. I commend him to my colleagues and 
thank him, on behalf of all Kansans, for his decades of judicial 
service, which began at an age when many Americans begin contemplating 
retirement.

               [From the New York Times, Sept. 16, 2010]

           At 103, a Judge Has One Caveat: No Lengthy Trials

                         (By A. G. Sulzberger)

       Wichita, KS.--Judge Wesley E. Brown's mere presence in his 
     courtroom is seen as something of a daily miracle. His 
     diminished frame is nearly lost behind the bench. A tube 
     under his nose feeds him oxygen during hearings. And he warns 
     lawyers preparing for lengthy court battles that he may not 
     live to see the cases to completion, adding the old saying, 
     ``At this age, I'm not even buying green bananas.''
       At 103, Judge Brown, of the United States District Court 
     here, is old enough to have been unusually old when he 
     enlisted during World War II. He is old enough to have 
     witnessed a former law clerk's appointment to serve beside 
     him as a district judge--and, almost two decades later, the 
     former clerk's move to senior status. Judge Brown is so old, 
     in fact, that in less than a year, should he survive, he will 
     become the oldest practicing federal judge in the history of 
     the United States.
       Upon learning of the remarkable longevity of the man who 
     was likely to sentence him to prison, Randy Hicks, like many 
     defendants, became nervous. He worried whether Judge Brown 
     was of sound enough mind to understand the legal issues of a 
     complex wire fraud case and healthy enough to make it through 
     what turned out to be two years of hearings. ``And then,'' he 
     said, ``I realized that people were probably thinking the 
     same thing 20 years ago.''
       ``He might be up there another 20 years,'' added Mr. Hicks, 
     40, who recently completed a 30-month sentence and calls 
     himself an admirer of Judge Brown. ``And I hope he is.''
       The Constitution grants federal judges an almost-
     unparalleled option to keep working ``during good behavior,'' 
     which, in practice, has meant as long as they want. But since 
     that language was written, average life expectancy has more 
     than doubled, to almost 80, and the number of people who live 
     beyond 100 is rapidly growing. (Of the 10 oldest practicing 
     federal judges on record, all but one served in the last 13 
     years.)
       The judiciary has grown increasingly reliant on semiretired 
     senior judges--who now shoulder about a fifth of the workload 
     of federal courts. But recently, some courts have also 
     started taking steps that critics call long overdue to 
     address the challenges that accompany jurists working to an 
     advanced age.
       ``Attention to this area is growing in the judiciary,'' 
     said Judge Philip M. Pro, a district court judge in Las 
     Vegas. Judge Pro leads the Ninth Circuit Wellness Committee 
     in California, which focuses on age- and health-related 
     issues facing judges. A similar committee is being 
     established in the 10th Circuit, which includes Kansas.
       ``Most judges take pride in their work,'' Judge Pro said. 
     ``They certainly want to be remembered at the top of their 
     game. But a lot of time you're not the best arbiter of that--
     it's hard to see it in yourself if you're having 
     difficulties.''
       Lawyers and colleagues who work with him say that is 
     certainly not the case with Judge Brown.
       True, the legal community here has grown protective of him 
     over the years. In his younger days, he was so well known for 
     his temper--lateness, casual dress and the unacceptably 
     imprecise word ``indicate'' would all set him off--that 
     before hearings one prominent defense lawyer used to take a 
     Valium, which he called ``the Judge Brown pill.''
       Now, lawyers use words like ``mellowed,'' ``sweet'' and 
     ``inspirational'' to describe him, and one longtime 
     prosecutor began to cry while talking about his penchant for 
     gallows humor. ``Sorry,'' she said. ``It's just I can't 
     imagine practicing without him.''
       A few years ago, when they noticed that while speaking in 
     court Judge Brown would occasionally pause, sometimes for 
     what seemed like minutes, lawyers, clerks and fellow judges 
     worried that they were witnessing the beginning of a decline 
     that would make him incapable of doing his job. But he began 
     using an oxygen tube in the courtroom, and the pauses 
     disappeared. (During an hourlong interview in his chambers, 
     he paused briefly just once while trying to recall the last 
     name of Earl Warren, the former chief justice of the United 
     States, but he was without his oxygen tank.)
       The consensus is that Judge Brown is still sharp and 
     capable, though colleagues acknowledge that his appearance 
     can be startling. ``Physically he's changed a lot, but 
     mentally I haven't noticed any diminution of his ability,'' 
     said Judge Monti L. Belot, the former law clerk who now has 
     his own courtroom in the same building, ``Which has to be 
     pretty unique.''
       Nevertheless, Judge Brown has begun making a few 
     concessions to his age. He still hears a full load of 
     criminal cases, but now he takes fewer civil cases, and he no 
     longer handles any that may result in lengthy trials. He 
     spreads his hearings throughout the week to keep his strength 
     up, and he no longer takes the stairs to his fourth-floor 
     chambers.
       Though most federal judges could resign outright and 
     continue to receive their full salary once they reach 65, a 
     majority--like Judge Brown--elect to move to senior status, a 
     type of semiretirement that allows them to continue to work 
     at a full or reduced level. The courts have become deeply 
     reliant on such judges to handle the caseload, but they have 
     also struggled with how to ease out judges whose desire to 
     keep working no longer matches their ability.
       In rare circumstances, a panel of judges can vote to remove 
     another judge because of disability, which has happened only 
     10 times--most recently in 1999. Or, the chief judge of the 
     court can stop assigning the cases to the judge. More often, 
     a trusted colleague will be enlisted to suggest retirement or 
     reassignment to ceremonial duties, said Judge Marcia S. 
     Krieger, a district court judge in Denver who has been 
     surveying judges in the l0th Circuit about aging issues.
       Judge Brown has taken the step of asking a few trusted 
     colleagues, including his longtime law clerk Mike Lahey, to 
     tell him when they believe he is no longer capable of 
     performing his job. ``And,'' the judge said, ``I

[[Page E1728]]

     hope when that day comes I go out feet first.''
       Born on June 22, 1907, in Hutchinson, Kan., Judge Brown, 
     who had become a prominent local Democrat, first sought 
     appointment by President Harry S. Truman to the federal bench 
     while serving as a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II 
     (at 37, he was the oldest man in his unit). He failed, but in 
     1962, after a stint as a bankruptcy judge, he was appointed 
     to the district court by President John F. Kennedy. He earned 
     a reputation as a pragmatic jurist whose middle-of-the-road 
     rulings reflect a desire to apply rather than make the law.
       Judge Brown is one of four Kennedy appointees still on the 
     bench and the oldest federal judge in the country by six 
     years, according to the Federal Judicial History Office. The 
     only judge to serve at a later age was Joseph W. Woodrough, 
     who was on the Eighth Circuit until 1977, when he died at 
     104.
       For his part, Judge Brown is dismissive of talk of his 
     place in the record books and tired of all the fuss over his 
     birthdays. ``I'm not interested in how old I am,'' he said. 
     ``I'm interested in how good a job I can do.''

                          ____________________