[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1062]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE PASSING OF JUDGE JANE BOLIN

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this week we lost Judge Jane Bolin, the 
Nation's first African-American female judge, whose career marks a 
shining example of a person knocking down barriers and leaving a 
footprint for others to follow.
  Stirred by a strong sense of justice and a forceful determination to 
contribute, Judge Bolin overcame the indignity of signs saying ``no 
women should apply'' and ``no blacks allowed,'' and rose to have a 
career defined by ``firsts,'' the first African-American woman to 
graduate from Yale Law School, the first to join the New York City Bar 
Association, the first to work in the office of the New York City 
corporation counsel, and the first to serve on the judicial bench. Her 
legacy will live on, not only through her accomplishments on the bench 
of ending the placement of children in childcare agencies on the basis 
of ethnic background and ending the assignment of probation officers on 
the basis of race but also through the example of her lifelong struggle 
to show ``a broad sympathy for human suffering'' which will continue to 
inspire generations to come.
  I salute her life and hope that our Nation will continue its march 
towards a more representative judiciary.

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