Joseph F. Weis Jr. United States Courthouse

History & local legend

Judge Gerald Joseph Weber served on Pittsburgh’s federal court from 1964 until his death in 1989. A courthouse legend places him back at work after hours, dressed in black robes on the fourth floor of the Grant Street building—even though his courtroom had been on the eighth.

The best-known version concerns an electrician working from a ladder during renovations. A robed man stopped beneath him, asked how the work was going and walked away. The worker supposedly recognized Weber afterward among the judges’ portraits. The story circulated among contractors and was reported by Torsten Ove in 2000.

Electrical foreman John Bateman told Ove about a separate experience while repeating the legend to a colleague. In a room full of law books, his coworker opened a volume at random and landed on a federal case involving his own wife. Bateman jokingly credited the judge. The court’s own biographical page now acknowledges the tradition of Weber making late-night rounds, sometimes accompanied by cold air, opening elevators or cigar smoke.