[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 20, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO PHILIP M. PRO

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I rise today to recognize the career of 
the Honorable Philip M. Pro, who is retiring from the U.S. District 
Court for the District of Nevada.
  For more than 25 years, Judge Pro has sat on the district court. He 
was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, and he took office on July 
23, 1987. From 2002 to 2007, he served as chief judge for the district 
court. Since being appointed to this distinguished position by 
President Reagan, his consistent leadership and responsiveness to the 
public and the court have not gone unnoticed. In October 1993, then 
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist appointed Judge Pro 
as chair of the Committee on the Administration of the Magistrate 
Judges System of the Judicial Conference of the United States. In 2007, 
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Judge Pro to 
the board of the Federal Judicial Center.
  Beyond his remarkable career at the district court, Judge Pro has had 
a tremendous impact on the entire legal community. He served for 
several years on the Study Committee to Review the Nevada Rules of 
Civil Procedure. He was actively involved in numerous international 
rule-of-law programs in countries such as Hungary, Spain, Norway, 
Malawi, and South Africa. Judge Pro was integral in the establishment 
of the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las 
Vegas. He served on the Law Advisory Committee for the law school and 
the advisory board of the school's Saltman Center for Conflict 
Resolution.
  In addition to his impressive work in the legal community, he has 
worked since 1987 to educate Nevada's youth about civic duties through 
his role with the We, the People . . . the Citizen and the Constitution 
Program.
  On a personal basis, I was chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission 
during tumultuous times, when it was discovered mob influences 
infiltrated Nevada's gaming establishments; Phil was one of my 
attorneys. We have joked, since then, that he was able to beat, on 
behalf of the State of Nevada and its gaming authorities, the best 
lawyers that the adverse interest could buy. He was then an advocate of 
the law. Phil understood the law, for which I will always be grateful. 
I would also be negligent if I did not announce to everyone within the 
sound of my voice my envy for his great voice. He has a deep baritone 
speaking ability, which sets him apart from almost everyone else. I 
thank Phil Pro for his friendship.
  Through his years of professional and voluntary service, Judge Pro 
has become a fixture in the Nevada legal community. I congratulate him 
on his many successes and decades of dedicated public service. I wish 
him the best in all his future endeavors.

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