Chairman and CEO Scott Meyers was quoted in ABA Journal in support of renaming a Tallahassee courthouse after the late Judge Joseph Hatchett, a former Akerman partner, after the measure was blocked by the U.S. House of Representatives. The Senate had unanimously passed the bill honoring Hatchett, who was the first Black judge on the Florida Supreme Court and later served on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, but a Republican representative uncovered an opinion from Hatchett’s time on the 11th Circuit that he disagreed with, causing him to influence other representatives from his party to vote against the bill.
“Those members of the House, who either knew Judge Hatchett personally or knew of his lifelong commitment to justice and public service, were his strong supporters,” Meyers said. “We strongly urge the rest of the House to follow their lead and recognize the lifetime achievements of Judge Hatchett by naming the federal courthouse in Tallahassee for him.”