The ribbon was cut today on a $68 million federal courthouse in Jefferson City, named for former Missouri Governor and U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R).
It replaces an older building, which shares space with a post office, and where judges, jurors, lawyers and criminal defendants all shared the same elevator. Bond says the new facility is sorely needed.
“It provides the security and the protection that judges and jurors and average citizens didn’t have in the old courthouse," Bond said. "I first practiced in the old courthouse some 42 years (ago), (and) we needed a new courthouse then.”
The new federal courthouse sits near the south bank of the Missouri River, and is across the street from the old State Prison grounds. Bond says he’s honored to have the new facility named after him, because the building symbolizes a fair and independent judiciary:
“It will symbolize that America is a nation based on laws, and not on men," Bond said. "Our court system is what distinguishes us from other governments in the world, like Hitler’s Germany, Castro’s Cuba, Chavez’s Venezuela.”
Christopher S. "Kit" Bond served two non-consecutive terms as Missouri Governor in the 1970’s and 80’s, and he served four terms in the U.S. Senate from 1987 through 2010. He chose not to seek a fifth term, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Roy Blunt.
