[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 16003]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING PATRICK FLANAGAN

 Mr. HELLER. Mr. President, today I wish to remember my friend, 
Second Judicial District Court Chief Judge Patrick Flanagan, who 
recently passed away in Reno at the age of 64. My deepest sympathy goes 
out to his family and loved ones.
  All of Washoe County and Nevada's legal community will miss Chief 
Judge Flanagan, who only a year and a half ago was unanimously elected 
by the Second Judicial District Court to serve as chief judge. He was 
one of Nevada's finest, and his loss cannot be understated.
  Before being elected to the bench, Chief Judge Flanagan served as an 
attorney and an assistant Federal public defender for the District of 
Nevada and worked in the appellate division of the Washoe County Public 
Defender's Office as a chief appellate deputy. In 2006, he was elected 
to serve as the Second Judicial District Court judge in Department 7 
and was reelected in 2014.
  Chief Judge Flanagan played a large role in the Reno community, as he 
regularly spoke to students, opened his courtroom for observation, and 
engaged students in public outreach initiatives, including the court's 
first annual student Flag Day poem contest.
  His colleagues remember him as a personable, caring, and effective 
jurist who repeatedly inserted jokes or random facts about Irish 
history in his emails.
  He served as the president of the State Bar of Nevada, the Washoe 
County Bar Association, and the Nevada Chapter of the Federal Bar 
Association.
  Chief Judge Flanagan completed his undergraduate degree from Duquesne 
University and received his juris doctorate from California Western 
School of Law.
  As Nevada's senior Senator, I know Chief Judge Flanagan's legacy will 
live on in the court. Lynne and my family pray for Chief Judge 
Flanagan's wife, their two children, grandchild, and entire extended 
family as they mourn his passing.

                          ____________________