Harry Reid: “I wanted to pay tribute to Howell Heflin. He was a wonderful man who served in the Senate for 18 years. He actually…”

“I wanted to pay tribute to Howell Heflin. He was a wonderful man who served in the Senate for 18 years. He actually revolutionized the court system in Alabama. The first amendment they ever had to their Constitution was a result of his reorganization of the court when he was chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Howell Heflin holds the record here, serving as a member of the Ethics Committee for 13 years. He did that with dignity during some of the most difficult times we have seen in the Senate with some of the problems Senators had. I had the good fortune of traveling to Alabama yesterday to be with his widow Mike at that funeral in the rural community of Tuscumbia, AL. That is where he had his home and law practice and where he died. He had very little suffering. He was 83 years old. He got sick one afternoon and died within an hour or two after that. The Senate will always be a better place as a result of Senator Heflin having been a Member.”