Call for Permanent Structure Sounded Already : U.S. Courthouse Is Dedicated

Dozens of judges and lawyers gathered in Santa Ana on Friday to dedicate a new federal courthouse, designed to serve the growing demands of Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

The courthouse is the first branch of the Central U.S. District Court, a federal judicial district headquartered in Los Angeles but one that sprawls from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.

The brief ceremony for the long-sought building attracted three justices of the federal appellate court, an associate U.S. attorney general and 16 federal district judges, among dozens of other judges and lawyers.

While many Orange County lawyers who had worked long for the court savored the day, the keynote speaker urged his audience to look ahead.

Chief U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real, whose bench was largely responsible for setting up the court after it was first authorized by Congress in 1980, told listeners it was just the first step.

Real spoke of projections under which the three-judge courthouse could be overloaded with new business virtually before it gets under way.

“We already know at this dedication that this building is not big enough for what the tri-counties deserve,” Real said.

The 34,000-square-foot structure at the corner of Flower Street and Santa Ana Boulevard is of modular construction and is considered temporary, though it is designed to last 10 years.

Real urged the largely Orange County audience to begin pushing for a new, permanent courthouse.

“Start today,” Real said.

The facility houses District Judges Alicemarie H. Stotler and J. Spencer Letts, and Magistrate Ronald W. Rose. It also contains branch offices of federal public defenders, marshals and of U.S. Atty. Robert Bonner.

The court had been sought for years, but funding difficulties and other considerations delayed the project.

Former Congressman Jerry M. Patterson, now in private law practice, was singled out for commendation, along with Orange County’s congressional delegation, for their work in passing legislation making the courthouse a reality.

The work of dozens of others also was noted by master of ceremonies Vernon W. Hunt, president of the county Bar Assn.

But Real named Senior Circuit Judge Warren J. Ferguson as the originator of the scheme. Ferguson, now sitting on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, maintains a Santa Ana office next door to the new courthouse.

Real said he remembered when Ferguson “made the first motion” 19 years ago to create a branch in Orange County.

Ferguson was the “longest and most persistent crusader” for the court, Real said.