[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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