[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 96 (Monday, June 11, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S3597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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              REMEMBERING CLEMENT CLAY ``BO'' TORBERT, JR.

 Mr. JONES. Mr. President, it is with deep sadness that I rise 
today to remember Chief Justice Clement Clay ``Bo'' Torbert, Jr., who 
died on Saturday, June 2, 2018. Bo Torbert was a good friend and a wise 
and thoughtful jurist whose leadership in the bench and bar will not 
soon be equaled or forgotten. Indeed, the significance of Justice 
Torbert's legacy was apparent way back in 1994 when the Alabama 
Judicial Building in Montgomery was named in honor of Justice Torbert 
and Senator and former Chief Justice Howell Heflin, another friend, 
mentor, and Alabama legal icon.
  Justice Torbert was born on August 31, 1929, and he was proud to call 
Opelika home. An active member of the First United Methodist Church, he 
was also a lifelong hunter, conservationist, historian, and 
outdoorsman. Educated in the public schools of Opelika, after high 
school, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated from Auburn 
University in 1951, where he was a collegiate swimmer. He served in the 
U.S. Air Force, attaining the rank of captain. Following his graduation 
from the University of Alabama Law School in 1954, Justice Torbert 
began practicing law in Opelika, first with Bill Dickinson, who later 
became an Alabama Congressman, and later with Yetta Samford. In 1958, 
he was elected to represent Lee County in the State legislature.
  Only 30 years old in 1959, Torbert was voted ``Outstanding Freshman'' 
in the Alabama State House. In 1966, he was elected to the Alabama 
Senate, where he proposed a number of legislative initiatives that 
would set the stage for significant reforms to Alabama's courts and 
legal system. After his return to private practice in 1970, Torbert 
continued to support then-Chief Justice Howell Heflin's efforts to 
effect court reform through constitutional amendment 328, which was 
finally ratified in December of 1973. Returning to the State senate in 
1974, Torbert shepherded through the legislature the bills necessary to 
implement the reforms mandated in the amendment, and after he was 
elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 1976, Justice 
Torbert oversaw the transition to the streamlined system, which was 
subsequently ranked as one of the best court systems in the Nation.
  During his tenure as chief justice, Torbert was also active in 
national and international judicial organizations, serving as president 
of the Conference of Chief Justices, chairman of the National Center 
for State Courts, and chairman of the State Justice Institute. In 1979, 
he was elected to the Alabama Academy of Honor. After leaving the 
court, Justice Torbert taught at both the University of Alabama School 
of Law and Cumberland School of Law before joining the law firm of 
Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C., where he practiced until his retirement 
several years ago.
  My wife Louise and I extend our sincere condolences to Bo's wife, 
Gene Hurt Torbert and to his three children, my longtime friend Dixie 
Alton and her husband, Mitch; Shealy Cook and her husband, Penn; and 
Clay Torbert and his wife, Cindy, as well as his five grandchildren, 
Rebecca Cook Davis and her husband, William; Elizabeth Cook; Clay Cook; 
Bo Torbert IV; James Torbert; and two great-grandchildren, Penton Davis 
and Celia Davis.
  Justice Torbert was a great Christian, husband, father, lawyer, 
statesman, and judge, and while Alabama will surely miss him, his 
legacy will live on for generations.

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