COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KRHD) — College Station tapped as future home of federal courthouse after Congress passes bill
Watch the full story here:
College Station is set to become home to a federal courthouse after Congress passed the "Local Access to Courts Act," officially designating the city as an authorized federal court location.
For years, residents had to travel to Houston for federal jury duty — a burden that weighed on many in the community.
"I wanted to do my civic duty, but I quickly realized that it was going to be a significant financial and physical burden on me," Robert Rose said.
Rose sees the designation as a reflection of how much the area has grown.
"The area has gotten to a size that having a federal court here makes some sense," Rose said.
City Manager Bryan Woods agreed, calling it a milestone for College Station.
"It's just another example of people seeing at College Station really is a hub," Woods said.
Local attorney Gaines West, who has spent 40 years working toward this goal, called it a defining moment for the community.
"This is a growing up time for our community. I've often said that what I have worked on these 40 years is planning a shade tree under which I won't really be able to sit," West said.
Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane is expected to visit College Station in the coming week to scout both temporary and permanent locations for the court.
"He's going to be coming to town in the next week to choose a temporary location for the court and to look at permanent locations for the court," West said.
Woods confirmed the city has meetings scheduled with Crane's team.
"We have meetings scheduled with him. And I know they're working on it diligently to, to get the temporary location going and then obviously be a lot of discussion about what the permit is, but I don't have a timeline yet, but we have meetings scheduled with them as early as next week," Woods said.
For West, the courthouse fills what he described as a long-standing gap in the community.
"The one missing part of where we live has been the lack of a federal form, we can now check that box on everybody's checklist," West said.
The city has no additional details at this time. This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.