Federal Judge's Work Earns Praise and a Portrait

U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte, who helped bring a federal courthouse to the Maryland suburbs, has been given a permanent place of honor in the building where he has presided for more than a decade.

The first federal judge assigned to the courthouse in Greenbelt after it was completed in 1994, Messitte has been the dean of the bench in Greenbelt ever since, helping forge its identity as the federal courthouse for Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's and St. Mary's counties.

Now, an oil portrait of Messitte, by the St. Mary's artist Peter Egeli, will hang in the ceremonial courtroom in Greenbelt, where an overflow crowd of friends, family and colleagues saluted the 67-year-old judge last week as he prepared to take senior status on the bench.

Many of Maryland's other federal judges were there, along with some of the state's most prominent lawyers and politicians. Among them were former senator Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.), state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) and U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat and a champion of a federal courthouse for the state's southern counties, praised Messitte's service and called him a credit to the bench and to the country.

Not only has Messitte served as a judge for more than two decades, first in state court and now in federal court, but he has for many years been something of an international envoy, traveling the world to talk to other judges and lawyers about the U.S. legal system.

So, fittingly, the celebration Friday was a tribute to Messitte the Marylander, who splits his time between Chevy Chase and St. Mary's County, and Messitte the internationalist, who's one of only a few Portuguese-speaking federal judges in the country.

Fellow U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus, who has known Messitte for more than 40 years, talked about their days at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, about hearing then-Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.) address their graduating class in 1959.

Titus recalled how Messitte embraced the call to service that Kennedy delivered in his inaugural address in 1961. Indeed, Messitte joined the Peace Corps and served in Brazil, an experience that was the beginning of a long relationship with the rest of the world and a life spent in public service.

"Peter answered JFK's call," Titus said.