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Both houses of Congress have approved a bill introduced two years ago by Rep. Charles B. Rangel to rename the U.S. Court of International Trade Building in lower Manhattan for the late Judge L. Watson. The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Hillary Rodham-Clinton.
This federal court building is but a stone's throw away from yet another that both the former first lady and Rangel have worked to have renamed for an African-American judge.
The first building was named for Thurgood Marshall, the nation's first African-American U.S. Supreme Court justice, who was appointed to the bench by President Johnson.
Watson, who was also named by President Johnson to what was then the U.S. Customs Court, was one of the most senior African-American members of the federal judiciary and a lifelong resident of Harlem. He is credited with helping to modernize the court. Watson gained distinction as a decorated veteran of World War II and a New York City Civil Court justice. He was also one of the first Blacks elected to the state Senate.
Rangel described Watson as a...