[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 161 (Thursday, December 13, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8035-S8036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NEWEST UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, last Friday, December 7, 2012, the new 
United States Courthouse in Cedar Rapids, IA was dedicated. This 
facility was built to replace the previous courthouse, built in 1932, 
that was closed due to the extensive flood damage that occurred in June 
2008.
  The new courthouse has five courtrooms and associated facilities for 
the United States Courts operations and also houses a number of Federal 
Government agencies. Groundbreaking took place in April 2009. The new 
courthouse opened to the public on November 5. It is my understanding 
the courthouse was completed within budget and on time.
  At the dedication ceremony last week, the keynote address was 
delivered by the Honorable David R. Hansen, Senior United States 
Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth 
Circuit. I ask unanimous consent that his remarks be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


[[Page S8036]]


       Chief Judge Reade, Senator Grassley, Senator Harkin, 
     Distinguished Members of the Federal and State Judiciaries, 
     Mayor Corbett, Honored Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
       May It Please The Court:
       We gather today to dedicate this, the newest United States 
     Courthouse in these United States of America. It stands as a 
     fitting testament to the Federal Government's Design 
     Excellence program which employs the Nation's leading 
     architects and designers to design the country's newest 
     federal public buildings. In our case those professionals 
     were William Rawn and Associates of Boston and OPN Architects 
     of Cedar Rapids, and they have produced, with the excellent 
     efforts of the Ryan Companies this beautiful, eye-catching, 
     and awe-inspiring structure to house the components of the 
     United States District Court for the Northern District of 
     Iowa. The Northern District is composed of the northernmost 
     fifty-two counties in this state, with the dividing line 
     between the Northern and Southern districts basically along 
     Highway Thirty. The best news is that it was done on time and 
     within the budget.
       Fifty years ago there were six Congressionally authorized 
     federal court points across this district. They were in 
     Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Mason City, Fort Dodge, and 
     Sioux City. Not one of them was a stand-alone United States 
     Courthouse. All of them were buildings which principally 
     housed the United States Post Office for that city and 
     provided space for a courtroom and a judge's chambers, 
     usually on the second floor, along with some jury space. 
     Other non-court federal agencies were housed there too, and 
     they were really federal buildings. The players in the 
     federal court system had been and were scattered across the 
     district as well, with the Clerk of Court in Dubuque, the 
     Bankruptcy Referee in Fort Dodge, the United States Marshal 
     in Dubuque; and the Probation Office in Waterloo. The United 
     States Attorney was at times in Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, 
     Waterloo, Mason City, Fort Dodge, and Sioux City. Over the 
     years, and principally because of Judge Edward J. McManus's 
     initiatives, the various court functions were centralized 
     here in Cedar Rapids (for the eastern two-thirds of the 
     district) and in Sioux City for the Western Division.
       The centralization meant that the United States Post Office 
     and Federal Building at 101 First Street SE, now City Hall, 
     here in Cedar Rapids, soon became way too small for the Court 
     and its offices, and we began our efforts to build a new 
     courthouse to bring the Federal Court family under a single 
     roof. It has taken more than twenty years' time, and a 
     monumental flood to make this United States Courthouse a 
     reality. It is also a reality because of the untiring efforts 
     of the entire Iowa Congressional delegation to make it so, 
     and of the unwavering support of this city's leaders, both 
     public and private, for which the Courts are very grateful.
       But what is a courthouse? Or more specifically, what 
     attributes should a United States Courthouse have? Surely, as 
     you can easily discern, a courthouse is stone and steel, 
     glass and polished wood, art and architecture, pleasing lines 
     and soaring columns. But it is all those things combined to 
     inspire those who view it, those who work within it, and 
     those who are called to it, to the pursuit of the most lofty 
     goal of our democratic society--the attainment of justice for 
     all. As the ancient writer in the Old Testament enjoined his 
     readers--``Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue.''
       But it is not justice, in some raw or abstract sense, that 
     is to be pursued in this United States Courthouse: It is as 
     the inscription supporting the pediment of the United States 
     Supreme Court Building in Washington proclaims--It is Equal 
     Justice Under Law--that is, justice based on an equality of 
     treatment for those who seek it here, arrived at by applying 
     the Rule of Law. It is a justice based upon our First 
     Principles as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and 
     our Constitution. It is a justice arrived at by employing the 
     statutory laws, both Federal and State, that our 
     democratically elected representatives pass and our 
     presidents and governors approve, all of them acting in the 
     good faith pursuit of justice. It is a justice obtained by 
     the systematic weighing of the merits of each seeker's claim 
     to justice, pursuant to regularly established rules of 
     procedure by experienced and highly trained judges and well-
     intentioned juries of the seeker's peers, together with the 
     assistance of able lawyers, all of whom have sworn an oath to 
     administer justice equally and to serve the rich and poor 
     alike. Oftentimes the line between justice and injustice is 
     not a bright one. Statues of Lady Justice are abundant--they 
     always show her holding a balance scale. Sometimes the scales 
     are shown to be evenly balanced and sometimes they are out of 
     balance.
       Those who come here seeking justice for themselves will 
     sometimes leave disappointed, and they will go away mumbling 
     that ``Justice was not done'' when they really mean ``I 
     didn't win'': But because one didn't win doesn't mean that 
     justice under the Rule of Law wasn't administered in the 
     process of deciding their claim to it. The justice to be 
     obtained in this building is one informed by the law, based 
     on human reason, and guided by ancient precepts and common 
     sense. It is not an arbitrary judgment, nor is it dispensed 
     at the whim of the one who has the power to dispense it, be 
     it judge or jury.
       Administering justice under law admits of no caprice and 
     permits no whimsy. In order to be true to its purpose, it is 
     to the tireless pursuit of justice that this building must be 
     dedicated.
       In his 1951 Requiem For A Nun, the American novelist 
     William Faulker described the courthouse in his fictional 
     Yoknapatawpha County this way:
       ``But above all, the courthouse: The center, the focus, the 
     hub, sitting looming in the center of the the county's 
     circumference like a single cloud in its ring of horizon; 
     laying its vast shadow to the uttermost rim of horizon; 
     musing, brooding, symbolic and ponderable, tall as cloud, 
     solid as rock, dominating all; protector of the weak, 
     judicate and curb of the passions and lusts, repository and 
     guardian of the aspirations and hopes''
       Much of that description can be used to describe this real 
     courthouse. It is the center, the hub, the focus of the Third 
     Branch of government, the Judiciary, and of those who have 
     business with it. It is symbolic of the majesty and grace of 
     the law. It is nearly tall as cloud, solid as the tons of 
     rock used to build it, and it may be seen by some as rather 
     dominating in its appearance. It is emblematic of the trust 
     and confidence the people of the United States place in the 
     enduring National Government Lincoln described--``a 
     government of the people, by the people and for the people.''
       But it is more than it appears to be--it is more than the 
     transcendent qualities it evokes when first seen. It is the 
     place where the rights of all citizens are protected, where 
     the passions of the majority are tempered by overarching 
     fundamental principles, and as Faulkner wrote, it is a place 
     where citizens with hopes and aspirations can repair for 
     redress.
       This courthouse is all those things and more. The ``more'' 
     is a goal that those of us who helped design it made clear at 
     the outset--it had to be as transparent as possible. It was 
     to be neither a castle on a hill nor a fortress of thick, 
     impenetrable walls. Rather than Faulkner's brooding and 
     formidable structure, we wanted one that, while imposing, was 
     also open and inviting. We wanted the citizens to be able to 
     see into the building, to see through it. As you approach the 
     entry, coming down First Street, you can easily see, behind 
     the glass wall, the entrances to each of the courtrooms. Once 
     inside, you can appreciate the abundance of natural light 
     everywhere. Every courtroom, every public space is filled 
     with it. This is not a dark place, where the forces of evil 
     can find repose. It has been purposely designed so that 
     natural sunshine will light the way of all who enter its 
     doors, of all who seek the truths to be found here, and of 
     all who engage in the never ending pursuit of justice to 
     which it is dedicated.
       Thank you.

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