Page 21 - Briefcase Volume 36 Number 2

to expand Medicaid. he said. Dean John B. Neibel urged him to enroll as a full-time
Whether during his 20 years in the Texas House and Senate student, but finances forced him to work during the day and
or his 26 years in Congress, Green said, “People just want to see attend classes at night. He passed the bar on the first try “At the
what you can do to help them and their family, and I feel we did time, I thought it was tough, but I have fond memories of going
that.” to law school,” Green said.
Poe came into the public spotlight well before his days in “UH taught me how to be a trial lawyer,” Poe said. “I was a
Congress as a state district criminal judge who meted out prosecutor; I was a judge; it taught me how to be an advocate,
sentences of “creative justice,” or what became known as and I’m grateful for that. I took every constitutional law course
“Poetic Justice,” during his 22 years on the bench. Some of those Sydney Buchanan taught, and I still rely on the Constitution and
convicted in his court could be seen standing on street corners quote it often.
or in front of stores with printed signs reading: “I am a thief” or “Professor Blakely would bring fear and trepidation into my
“Don’t be a thief or this will be you.” He ordered sex offenders soul whenever he called on me. He taught me evidence and the
released from prison to place warning signs on their homes and rules of evidence. He was enough to make some people drop
convicted murderers to hang pictures of out and go to medical school,” he said
their victims on their cell walls. He once laughing.
ordered a car thief to give the victim his “UH taught me how What’s next for the two Texans
car. “That old lady loved driving around who have literally spent a lifetime in
in that Trans-Am,” he said with a laugh. to be a trial lawyer.” public service?
He said both his judicial and legislative Green plans to make up for lost time
careers brought satisfaction, and in some with his two children and four grandkids.
cases, frustration. As a judge he felt most During a recent interview, he planned
proud of protecting victims’ rights and as a congressman his to fly to Omaha to catch his granddaughter’s performance in a
support for increased border security and bipartisan efforts to 7th grade school play. “It will be the first time I will be able to do
stop sex trafficking and advocate on behalf of crime victims, that,” he said. He also is looking forward to not spending hours
especially children. He played pivotal roles in the passage of on a plane flying home to his district as he did every weekend
the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 and during his years in Congress. “Travel is not the best part of the
sponsored the Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization job,” he said.
of 2013 and the Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016. Poe noted that when he went off to Washington, his four
He also is the founder and co-chairman of the Congressional children were single. Now, he said, he has 12 grandkids with
Victims’ Rights Caucus and Fourth Amendment Caucus. whom he wants to spend more time.
He currently serves on the House Judiciary and Foreign He also is looking toward the next generation of leaders: “I
Affairs Committees. hope people get into public service across the board,” he said. “I
The difference between serving on the bench and Capitol Hill, was a judge at 32. Young people need to get into public service;
he said, is that “As a judge, you hear the evidence and you make our country needs it.” ■
a decision; you have the only vote. (In Congress) you don’t make
the decision and you don’t have the only vote.
“The frustration is in getting things done. But our founders Ted Poe ’73
wanted it to be difficult to get laws passed. They didn’t want it to
be easy.
“Being a member of Congress is humbling, and it is quite the
privilege,” he continued. “I’m an advocate for the 756,000 people
I represent. I’m their lawyer in Congress to advocate in their
behalf, and I love being an advocate.”
Poe did not point to the current state of extreme partisanship
in Congress or his health as determining factors in his decision
not to seek reelection. But, he said the “toxic atmosphere” in
Washington has become that way since he was elected 14 years
ago, and serves no purpose. He was diagnosed in 2016 with
leukemia, which he said is now under control.
In retrospect, both congressmen have fond memories of their
law school days.
Green worked his way through school at a printing company,
became involved in politics in the ’60s, graduated from the
University of Houston with a business major, and in 1973, one
year out of college, ran for the Texas legislature. “After my first
year in the legislature, I decided I needed to go to law school,”

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