[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 152 (Tuesday, October 29, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S7618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. CRUZ (for himself and Mr. Cornyn):
S. 1594. A bill to designate the United States courthouse located at
101 East Pecan Street in Sherman, Texas, as the Paul Brown United
States Courthouse; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the late Judge Paul
Brown, and to urge the Senate to adopt a bill I am introducing, along
with the Senior Senator from Texas. This bill will rename the Federal
courthouse in Sherman, TX, as the Paul Brown United States Courthouse.
Judge Brown was a Federal judge for the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Texas. He joined the court in 1985, after
being nominated by President Reagan. He served on that court admirably
until his death on November 26, 2012.
Judge Paul Brown was born on October 4, 1926. He was the youngest of
6 children. He was raised on a farm near Pottsboro, TX. He graduated
from Denison High School in 1943.
He left home to attend the University of Texas at Austin. But with
World War II escalating, he left UT to enlist in the Navy at the age of
17. He returned to UT, where he got his law degree in 1950. He is said
to have loved UT so much that a fellow judge once recalled that
although Judge Brown never wore a burnt orange tie on the bench, you
could see him ``glow orange'' by simply mentioning UT.
Just after Judge Brown got his law degree, the Korean War began. And
he served our country admirably once again in the Navy from 1950 to
1951. In 1951, he returned to Sherman, TX, and began private practice.
In 1953, he was appointed as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern
District of Texas. President Eisenhower named him U.S. Attorney for the
Eastern District of Texas in 1959.
After meeting and marrying Francis Morehead in Texarkana, Judge Brown
then moved back to Sherman and reentered private practice in 1961.
After almost a quarter century of practicing law in Sherman, Senator
Phil Gramm recommended Judge Brown to President Reagan for a new
vacancy in the Eastern District of Texas.
Judge Brown was confirmed for this vacancy in 1985. He served with
distinction for the next 27 years. Judge Brown took senior status in
2001. At Judge Brown's retirement celebration, Chief Judge Heartfield
called Judge Brown ``a textbook member'' of ``the Greatest
Generation.''
His legacy lives on today, as the Judge Paul Brown Endowed
Scholarship was established at the University of Texas School of Law in
2005. He was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Denison High School
in 2006.
Judge Brown will be missed by his family, his community, and his
nation. He, and his family, deserve this great honor, as the people of
Sherman, TX, will forever remember the great jurist, Judge Paul Brown.
______