Oren Harris
Encyclopedia
Oren Harris was a U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 and United States District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...

 Judge from Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

.

Background

Born in Belton, Arkansas, Harris attended public schools in Prescott, Arkansas
Prescott, Arkansas
Prescott is a city and the county seat of Nevada County, Arkansas. The community had a population of 3,868 at the 2000 census. Prescott is part of the Hope Micropolitan Statistical Area....

.
He graduated from Henderson State College, Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,548. The city is the county seat of Clark County. The city is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson State...

, in 1929, and from Cumberland School of Law
Cumberland School of Law
Cumberland School of Law is an ABA accredited law school at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The 11th oldest law school in the United States, it is 160 years old and has more than 11,000 graduates. Its alumni include two United States Supreme Court Justices; Nobel Peace Prize recipient...

 at Cumberland University
Cumberland University
Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1842, though the current campus buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896.-History:...

, Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon is a city in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the United States. The population was 20,235 at the 2000 census. It serves as the county seat of Wilson County. Lebanon is located in middle Tennessee, approximately 25 miles east of downtown Nashville. Local residents have also called it...

, in 1930.
He was admitted to the bar
Admission to the bar in the United States
In the United States, admission to the bar is the granting of permission by a particular court system to a lawyer to practice law in that system. Each U.S. state and similar jurisdiction has its own court system and sets its own rules for bar admission , which can lead to different admission...

 in 1930 and commenced practice in El Dorado, Arkansas
El Dorado, Arkansas
El Dorado , a multi-cultural arts center: South Arkansas Arts Center , an award-winning renovated downtown, and numerous sporting, shopping, and dining opportunities. El Dorado is the population, cultural, and business center of the 7,300 mi² regional area...

.
Harris served as Deputy prosecuting attorney of Union County, Arkansas from 1933 to 1936, and as prosecuting attorney of the thirteenth judicial circuit of Arkansas 1937-1940.
He served as delegate to the Democratic State conventions in 1936 and 1940, and the Democratic National Conventions in 1944, 1952, 1956, and 1960.

Congressional Service

In 1940, Harris was elected as U.S. Representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district
Arkansas's 4th congressional district
Arkansas's 4th congressional district is a congressional district located in the southern half of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Notable towns in the district include Camden, Hope, Hot Springs, Magnolia, Pine Bluff, and Texarkana....

, (encompassing much of southern Arkansas). He served without interruption for over twenty-five years, from January 3, 1941, until February 2, 1966. He served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, where in 1959 he presided over hearings on the "quiz show scandal."

In the 1960s, he served as chairman of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (Eighty-fifth
85th United States Congress
The Eighty-fifth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1957 to January 3, 1959, during the fifth and sixth...

 through Eighty-ninth
89th United States Congress
-House of Representatives:- Senate :* President of the Senate: Hubert Humphrey , starting January 20, 1965* President pro tempore: Carl Hayden - Majority leadership :* Majority Leader and Democratic Conference Chairman: Mike Mansfield...

 Congresses). He was the lead House sponsor of the Kefauver Harris Amendment
Kefauver Harris Amendment
The U.S. Kefauver Harris Amendment or "Drug Efficacy Amendment" is a 1962 amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.It introduced a requirement for drug manufacturers to provide proof of the effectiveness and safety of their drugs before approval...

, an amendatory act to the federal Pure Food and Drug Act
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906, is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines...

, the law that mandates that pharmaceutical companies disclose the side effects
Adverse effect
In medicine, an adverse effect is a harmful and undesired effect resulting from a medication or other intervention such as surgery.An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. If it results from an unsuitable or incorrect dosage or...

 of medications approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for sale in the U.S.A.

From Congressman to Federal Judge

On July 26, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Harris to fill a newly-created position as United States District Judge for the Eastern
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas is the United States District Court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties: Arkansas, Chicot, Clay, Cleburne, Cleveland, Conway, Craighead, Conway, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Dehsa, Drew, Faulkner, Fulton, Grant,...

 and Western
United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
The United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas is a United States District Court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties: Ashley, Baxter, Benton, Boone, Bradley, Calhoun, Carroll, Clarke, Columbia, Crawford, Franklin, Garland, Hempstead, Hot Springs, Howard,...

 Districts of Arkansas. He was confirmed August 11, 1965. Although the records of the Federal Judicial Center reflect that Harris received his commission on August 12, 1965, Harris did not sign the commission until the following year, when on February 3, 1966, he both resigned his office as a member of congress and was sworn in as a judge.

At the time of his resignation, the entire Arkansas congressional delegation had been in office since 1945 or earlier, and the prolonged period without an open seat had created a backlog of candidates waiting for a vacancy. In a special Democratic Primary, future U.S. Senator David Pryor
David Pryor
David Hampton Pryor is a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senator from the State of Arkansas. Pryor also served as 39th Governor of Arkansas from 1975 to 1979 and was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1960 to 1966...

 defeated future federal judge Richard S. Arnold
Richard S. Arnold
Richard Sheppard Arnold was a judge of the U.S. District Court and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Two presidents, Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton, considered naming Arnold to the United States Supreme Court...

 and others. Pryor took office after defeating Republican A. Lynn Lowe
Lynn Lowe
Aylmer Lynn Lowe, known as A. Lynn Lowe , was a farmer and politician from Garland in Miller County in southwestern Arkansas, who was a major figure in the Arkansas Republican Party...

 of Texarkana
Texarkana, Arkansas
As of the census of 2000, there were 26,448 people, 10,384 households, and 7,040 families residing in the city. The population density was 830.5 people per square mile . There were 11,721 housing units at an average density of 368.1 per square mile...

in the special election.

Judicial Service

Judge Harris served as Chief Judge of the Western District from 1967 to 1973 while continuing to serve in both districts. His active service ended when he assumed senior status on February 3, 1976, but he continued to serve as a senior judge.

He died February 5, 1997.
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