Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse And Federal Building
Madam Speaker, it is a real honor for me to be able to say a few words about Judge Hatchett. I heard my good friend and person I served with for many years, Congressman Webster, say how well he knew Judge Hatchett and the honorable man…
Madam Speaker, it is a real honor for me to be able to say a few words about Judge Hatchett. I heard my good friend and person I served with for many years, Congressman Webster, say how well he knew Judge Hatchett and the honorable man that Judge Hatchett was and all the things that he did for the State of Florida.
I can tell you, instead of going back to what some of the people said, the Federal courthouse is about a block from my business office that I pass by almost every day. When this bill was defeated on the House floor, people from all over the State of Florida, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, none of them understood what really happened, as much as they loved Judge Joseph Hatchett and the things that he meant to Florida and to this country; not because of his military background or because of the way he was treated because of Jim Crow and other things, but because of his leadership and the way that he was fair and the way that he loved people and the way that we wanted to have judges like Judge Hatchett serve on the bench.
When asked why my colleagues across the aisle voted against this measure, many of them were clueless. That should never happen on the floor of the House. Or rather they were ill-advised, when a 1990s ruling by Judge Hatchett began circulating which detailed opposition toward prayer at a public high school graduation, when Judge Hatchett simply followed the precedent of the U.S. Supreme Court.
It is very bad here in Congress, or anyplace, for those of us who have served in public office, not only in the State, but here in Congress, for someone not to tell everybody exactly what you are talking about. Many will get confused. When I called some of my colleagues, they didn't know what I was talking about. It was embarrassing to our two Senators, Rubio and Scott. It was embarrassing to them, because it was passed unanimously out of the Senate, to be blindsided because they didn't know what had happened.
We are talking about an individual that gave his career in public service to protect people's rights, to stand for those who are less fortunate, a person that cared not because of the color of an individual but because of the individual themself.
Throughout the State of Florida, people constantly call and ask why would this happen to such a hero, a Florida's son, one that sacrificed his life? I cannot tell you all of the things that he had to go through. You have heard most of them. But he was an honorable man.
And one great President said: People will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but they will never forget what we did here.
Madam Speaker, they will never forget what we did here. No one in the State of Florida, whether Democrats or Republicans, will ever forget what Judge Hatchett did for the State of Florida and for this Nation.