cirica Planning to Step Down As Fu .1-Time Federal Judge 1/11 By Timo by S. Robinson yesterday. the released a WashInton Post Staff Writer letter to the judge froth Carter prais- U.S. District Judge John J. Sirici, ing Sirica for becoming "a lasting perhaps the nation's most famous trial symbol of unflinching devotion to judge ,because• of• his role in helping duty." unravel the , will In the letter, Carter told Sirica that step down from full-time active duty during the judge's "distinguished ca- on the federal court here at the end reer in the federal judiciary since of this month. 1957, you have been given an opportu- Sirica announced his decision to nity afforded to few of us who enter take "senior" judge status at the age upon public service: to exhibit, at a of 73 and after 20 years on the bench time of, greatest challenge to our sys- in a letter to President Carter on tem of government, the personal cour- Tuesday, the same day he took his fi- age and wisdom needed to sustain nal act in a criminal Watergate case it , . ." and reduced the •sentences of the; Sirica is the third judge this year to three major defendants. step down from full-time active serv- In announcing Sirica's retirement See SIRICA, AS, Col. 1

-Sirica Will Move to 'Senior' Status SIRICA, From Al involved in a wide array of criminal on his physical fitness, Sirica was and civil cases of national and local stricken by a massive and near fatal ice on the 15-member federal trial importance. heart attack in February, 1976, while bench here. On Tuesday, U.S. District He presided over an eight-month speaking to an alumni group down- Judge Howard F. Corcoran announced civil trial in the early 1960s that re- town. he would take senior status at the end mains probably the longest trial ever He was hospitalized ,for several of November and earlier this year conducted here, sentenced the impe- weeks and returned to the bench in U.S. District Judge William B. Jones rial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan to the. fall of 1976. He ',now appears moved into senior status. jail for contempt of Congress in the healthy and has tried attempted to Judges who take senior status can late 1960s, presided over a trial in still sit on the bench as often as they keep a full workload, but he confides like 'while continuing to draw their which a Georgetown interior decora- to associates that he tires easily when full salary and keep their staffs and tor was convicted of being a fence for sitting in court for long ' periods of offices. However, the decision creates stolen property, presided over a trial time. a vacancy. ti of a man convicted of hiring' someone A native of , Sirica - ,Although he has been eligible to to rape and kill the man's wife, and the son of qn immigrant barber — take senior status since he turned 70, blocked the from lived in Jacksonville, Fla., and New Sirica has remained 'a full-time active being built, $ Orleans before coming to Washington judge apparently in a desire to con- But it was in the Watergate scandal in 1918. tinue his involvement with the Water- that Sirica earned his national reputa- He received his law degree from gate criminal cases until their end. tion. He did not believe that the Georgetown University and has been A man whose shy friendliness in whole story of Watergate came out at a prosecutor and defense attorney private belies his gruff courtroom the original trial and conducted what here, as well as a congressional com- manner and the harsh sentences that he called a "search for truth" in his mittee counsel. A Republican, he was have earned him the nickname of courtroom. chief of the trial department of the "Maximum John," Sirica began his in- One of the defendants, James Mc- prestigious firm of Hogan and Hart- volvement with the-Watergate scandal Cord, then wrote a letter to Sirica on son when he was nominated to the on Sept. 15, 1972, When, as chief judge, the date of his sentencing that began bench by President Dwight D. Eisen- he assigned himself to hear the crimi• to outline the scope of the cover-up hower. - nal case against the original Water- that had been perpetrated by the In his letter informing Piesident gate conspirators. White House. Carter of his decision to become a In his first 15 years on the bench, Sirica enforced subpoenas for White senior judge,• Sirica said that he Sirica was not noted for outstanding House tapes that subsequently led to hoped that in his -20 years on the legal scholarship but had 'earned a the downfall of President Nixon, and bench "I have contributed to and reputation as an oft-reversed, bluntly presided over the Watergate cover-up measured up in some slight degree to outspoken and independent judge. As trial as well. the high responsibilities thus im- do all federal judges here, he became A former boxer who prides himself posed."