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Letter Pursuant to Resolution of the <br />Grayson County Bar Association <br />Scptember 28, 2011 <br />President Barack Obama <br />The White House <br />1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW <br />Washington, D.C. 20500 <br />Re: Judicial Appointment for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division <br />Dear President Obama, <br />The Grayson County Bar Association, representing the lawyers of the Eastern District of <br />Texas, Sherman Division, respectfully urge you to make, as prompt as possible, a judicial <br />appointment to the United States District Court here in Sherman. The Federal bench here in <br />Sherman has been vacant since October, 2006. Our United States Senators, the Honorable Kay <br />Bailey Hutchison and the Honorable John Comyn, are keenly aware of the needs here in our <br />community and have interviewed candidates for this position. It is our understanding that you have <br />recommendations for our vacant Federal bench before you for your consideration. We respectfully <br />urge you to move expeditiously to fill this vacancy with someone committed to living in our <br />community and supporting the Federal Court's important historical presence here in Sherman. <br />The particulars of the current situation are as follows: <br />1. The Honorable Judge Paul Brown retired in October of 2006, leaving the duties of <br />the Sherman Division Court to be filled by a cadre of dedicated, but overworked <br />Federal Judges from as away as Beaumont, Texas (320 miles). For 6 years, they have <br />tirelessly covered the Sherman Court's docket, which has the largest criminal case <br />load and one of the heaviest civil intellectual property case loads in the Eastern <br />District. <br />2. We are informed that another division in the Eastern District will be getting a <br />Federal Judge this October or shortly thereafter, with that appointment occurring less <br />than one-year after that Court's vacancy. We do not begrudge the Marshall Court's <br />vacancy being filled, but merely the absence of a Federal Judge here in our <br />community for so long. <br />3. The District Judges of the Eastern District, by an internal decision, agreed several <br />years ago that after the Honorable Paul Brown retired, the next judge appointed <br />should be placed in the Sherman Division. These Judges agreed on the Sherman <br />Division because all other Divisions of the. Eastern District had at least one Federal <br />Judge. This has yet to happen. <br />