On the recordJuly 16, 2018
I appreciate the gentleman from Pennsylvania yielding and the support of the gentleman from Pennsylvania and the gentlewoman from Nevada for this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I introduced this legislation with a near unanimous request of the legal community and the broader leadership in the Texas Panhandle. Since 1980, the Federal building and courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, has been known as the J. Marvin Jones Federal Building. Judge Jones led a remarkable life. He served in this House from 1917 to 1940, including as chair of the Committee on Agriculture. He was then appointed to the court of claims, took a leave of absence to serve in the Roosevelt administration during World War II, and went back to the court of claims, where he was the chief judge there from 1947 until his retirement in 1964. As I said, it was a remarkable life, but there is another remarkable life that has made a lasting impact on the cause of justice in the Northern District of Texas, and it has also been an inspirational life. Judge Mary Lou Robinson has served as a judge, as Members have heard, for more than 60 years, more than 35 years of which has been as a Federal district judge in the Northern District of Texas. She is a pioneer: She attended and graduated law school at the University of Texas at a time when very few women applied or were admitted to the law school at all. When she went into private practice in Amarillo, she was one of two female attorneys practicing there.…
