The Idaho Senate today honored U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge, the state’s longest-serving judge ever, with 50 years on the state and federal bench. Lodge, shown above at center, was in the gallery with family members and court staff. Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, sponsored SCR 132, a resolution commending Lodge. “This is a man I respect. This is a person I think you should respect and Idaho should respect – he is one of my heroes,” Davis told the Senate. Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, also an attorney, said, “I say he’s one of the great judges anywhere in our nation.”

Another senator offering comments has close ties to the judge: His wife, Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston. “What I can tell you about Ed Lodge is that he has his priorities in line,” she said. The resolution traces Lodge’s career, from Caldwell High School to Golden Gloves boxing champion to presiding over many of the state’s major court cases of the last half-century, from Claude Dallas to Ruby Ridge. He’s believed to have handled more murder cases than any judge in Idaho, and once presided over two simultaneously.

The Senate followed its unanimous approval of the resolution with an extended standing ovation for Lodge.