[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11892-11893]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               ROBERT H. JACKSON UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE

  Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3556) to designate the new United States courthouse in 
Buffalo, New York, as the ``Robert H. Jackson United States 
Courthouse''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3556

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The United States courthouse at 2 Niagara Square, Buffalo, 
     New York shall be known and designated as the ``Robert H. 
     Jackson United States Courthouse''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the United States 
     courthouse referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a 
     reference to the ``Robert H. Jackson United States 
     Courthouse''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Bucshon) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on H.R. 3556.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Indiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

[[Page 11893]]

  H.R. 3556 would designate the courthouse in Buffalo, New York, as the 
Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse. Justice Jackson was an 
associate Justice to the United States Supreme Court from 1941 to 1954. 
He had a long career in public service, including participating in the 
landmark desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education, and serving as 
chief counsel for the United States in charge of prosecuting Nazi 
leaders at Nuremberg. Justice Jackson served the Nation and advanced 
justice both here and at Nuremberg.
  I think it's appropriate to honor his dedication by naming this 
courthouse after him. I support passage of this legislation and urge my 
colleagues to do the same.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in support of H.R. 3556, introduced by the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Higgins).
  The bill would designate the new United States courthouse in Buffalo, 
New York, as the ``Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse''.
  Associate Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson is considered one 
of the finest legal experts in American history.
  He served in the U.S. Treasury Department and in several roles within 
the U.S. Department of Justice, including Attorney General. In 1938, 
Justice Jackson was appointed as the U.S. Solicitor General where he 
argued more than 30 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
  In 1941, Justice Jackson was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by 
President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Justice Jackson served for 13 terms on 
the U.S. Supreme Court and in 1945, at the request of President Harry 
S. Truman, Justice Jackson took a leave of absence from the Supreme 
Court to serve as the United States Chief Prosecutor in the ``Nuremberg 
Trials'' where Nazi war criminals were tried.
  He was admired for his work in addressing how these trials were 
organized, the standards of evidence, and the rights of all defendants, 
setting the stage for the development of modern international law.
  Justice Jackson will be remembered for his outstanding work in the 
legal system and for his strong commitment to public service. 
Therefore, it is appropriate that the new United States courthouse in 
Buffalo, New York, be named in his honor.
  I support this bill and encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 3556.
  At this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to my good friend, 
Congressman Higgins from New York.
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, the new Federal courthouse in Buffalo 
opened last November. It opened to great fanfare, and rightly so, 
because it is a beautiful building that enhances our community and will 
provide needed space for the crucial work that is done there.
  But the opening of the courthouse was also significant to western New 
York because it did not come easily.
  In the 1990s, Federal Judges William Skretny and Richard Arcara began 
to make the case that the Michael Dillon Courthouse in Buffalo was no 
longer suitable for the growing caseload of the Western District of New 
York. The United States Judicial Conference agreed, and they ranked a 
new courthouse in Buffalo near the top of the list of new facilities it 
annually sends to Congress. Yet Judges Skretny and Arcara watched along 
with the rest of our community as Congress repeatedly passed over 
Buffalo for other facilities around the country. But the judges kept 
fighting, and so did Buffalo.
  We finally passed the funding through Congress in 2007, and we now 
have a magnificent 10-story structure right on historic Niagara Square 
that we can be proud of.

                              {time}  1730

  Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today would name this new courthouse 
for Supreme Court Justice, chief U.S. prosecutor at the Nuremberg 
trials, Solicitor General and U.S. Attorney General Robert H. Jackson. 
He is a uniquely western New York story and a uniquely American story.
  Robert Jackson was raised near Jamestown, New York, and spent the 
first 42 years of his life in western New York. For a time, he lived on 
Johnson Park, now in the shadow of the new courthouse, and practiced 
law in the historic Ellicott Square Building. He would often walk to 
work from his home, passing the site where the new courthouse now sits. 
He was a prominent attorney in Buffalo when he was called to Washington 
by President Franklin Roosevelt.
  As U.S. Solicitor General, he argued more than 30 cases before the 
United States Supreme Court, on which he would later sit. Louis 
Brandeis, the constitutional scholar and a former member of the U.S. 
Supreme Court, said at the time that Jackson was so good as Solicitor 
General, he ``should be Solicitor General for life.''
  And as U.S. Attorney General, Jackson focused on national security 
issues as the United States headed toward involvement in World War II.
  Robert Jackson served the United States Supreme Court for 13 terms 
and took part in the landmark decision prohibiting segregation, Brown 
v. Board of Education. He is celebrated as among the most accomplished 
writers in the Court's history. In fact, constitutional scholar 
Laurence Tribe called him ``the most piercingly eloquent writer ever to 
serve on the United States Supreme Court.''
  At the request of President Truman, Jackson took a leave of absence 
from the Court to serve as the chief prosecutor of Nazi war criminals 
at the International Military Tribunal, commonly known as the Nuremberg 
trials. He designed and was the driving force behind this first 
international trial, bringing Nazi criminals to justice while 
establishing an important foundation of international law.
  In his oral arguments at Nuremberg, he spoke not only to the 
assembled tribunal, he spoke to the world of the American ideals of 
justice and freedom, and of freedom being the essence of man. He said 
America's history and promise is to help other nations define freedom 
in their own terms. Jackson's oral arguments at Nuremberg are 
considered among the greatest speeches of the 20th century.
  Shortly after the Nuremberg trials concluded, Justice Jackson was 
invited to speak at the University of Buffalo's centennial celebration 
at Kleinhans Music Hall on October 4, 1946. With over 2,000 people in 
attendance, Jackson's speech was delivered with power and eloquence. In 
it, he said that ``education is humanity's hope,'' connecting his work 
at Nuremberg to the work of the university, and he received an honorary 
degree of doctor of laws from the University of Buffalo.
  The leadership of the western district of New York has endorsed 
naming their building in honor of Justice Jackson. Judge Skretny called 
him the most distinguished jurist and most acclaimed legal mind to come 
out of western New York. Jackson is the only member of the United 
States Supreme Court from western New York, making this honor 
especially significant.
  I want to thank Chairman Mica and Ranking Member Rahall for bringing 
this bill to the floor today; and I would like to thank the western New 
York congressional delegation--Kathy Hochul, Louise Slaughter, and Tom 
Reed--and the entire New York delegation, including our two Senators, 
for their bipartisan and unanimous support of this bill.
  This is a proud day for western New York, and I urge my colleagues to 
support this legislation.
  Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this legislation, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BUCSHON. Mr. Speaker, I also urge support for H.R. 3556, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3556.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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