It was a beautiful day for a beautiful ceremony this morning, renaming the Tower Building the C. Clyde Atkins United States Courthouse (at 301 N. Miami Avenue).
Here's a picture I took with my cell phone of Chief Judge Moreno presiding over the events. Speakers included:
Senator Bill Nelson, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Nilda Pedrosa (for Mel Martinez), Frank Angones, and Judy Korchin.
Atkins' wife and daughter also spoke.
All of the federal judges and magistrates were there and they were retelling stories about Atkins. I never practiced before him, but from what everyone was saying he seemed like a truly good person.
Not just a truly good person, David, but a courageous judge who ruled because it was right, even if it was unpopular. He had no ego, was always a gentleman, and treated those before him with respect. He was, in short, a judge from another era, another time, when being an Article III judge meant something special.
ReplyDeleteYes, he took a stand for what was right, not what was popular, and he grounded his opinions in an elemental sense of fairness and decency that unfortunately is too rare nowadays.
ReplyDeleteNice event, let's hope the building can live up to his name.