The Rome News Tribune reported last week that a move is underway to ask Georgia’s congressional delegation to name the Federal courthouse in downtown Rome in honor of the late Judge Harold Murphy. 

Murphy presided over the court for decades after being appointed to a federal judgeship by his friend, President Jimmy Carter.  Judge Murphy passed away late last year, three days after Christmas.

The Rome News Tribune reported, in 2005, U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, who represented Rome in Congress at the time, began legislation to name the building after Judge Murphy, but the legislation stalled since the judge had not yet taken senior status. He took that status in 2017, at the age of 90, and still presided over his courtroom. Later, in 2019, it was proposed again and endorsed by the Rome Bar Association.