Robert T. Matsui Federal Building

Completed in 1999, this federal building was named for the late Robert T. Matsui (1941- 2005), a Japanese-American politician who served Sacramento for twenty-six years as a Democratic U.S. Congressman while representing California’s Fifth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. The sixteen-story federal building contains the Sacramento Division of the U.S. District Court for the State of California. It also houses several other federal agencies and offices, including the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, U.S. Pretrial Services, U.S. Trustees, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. The interior contains notable works of art by painters such as George Miyasaki and Tony Berlant, as well as by the poet Rita Dove.

Built in 1999, this federal building is sixteen stories tall, overlooking a plaza that features a decorative fountain and outdoor sculptures. The exterior is clad in a buff-colored limestone intended to suggest the warmth of California’s Central Valley climate, with green granite on the ground floor intended to blend with the city’s street trees. Additionally, the building’s arcing, tinted blue-green glass is meant to evoke the flow of the nearby Sacramento River. The interior contains several notable works of art, such as George Miyasaki’s 1999 painting, “Dream within a Dream, in Honor of Pacific Asian Pioneers” and Tony Berlant’s 1999 painting, “On this Spot Stood the First Chinese Settlement in Sacramento.”

The building was named in honor of the late Robert T. Matsui (1941-2005), who served Sacramento for twenty-six years while representing California’s Fifth Congressional District as a Democratic Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives. A third generation Japanese-American, Matsui was six months old in 1942 when he and his family were taken to the Lake Tule Camp, a World War II-era federal internment camp for people of Japanese descent on the West Coast, following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Many years later, while serving as a U.S. Congressman, Matsui worked to pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-383), which provided some redress for Japanese-Americans by offering compensation to victims and a public apology from the federal government.

During his long career, Matsui was also instrumental in allocating land for a Japanese-American memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C., and also in designating Manzanar (a wartime relocation camp in California) as a National Historic Site. While representing California’s Fifth Congressional District, Matsui was particularly committed to issues related to public safety, the preservation of Social Security, flood control in at-risk areas, open trade policies, and federal participation in Sacramento’s transformative growth. Upon Matsui’s death in 2005, President Bill Clinton commended his efforts to work for change within the system, describing Matsui as “a man who could have given in to bitterness, but instead overcame it.”

"Robert T. Matsui", Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. Accessed September 9th, 2023. https://igs.berkeley.edu/people/robert-t-matsui.

"Robert T. Matsui U.S. Courthouse", US General Services Administration, Fine Arts Collection. Accessed September 9th, 2023. https://art.gsa.gov/locations/560189/robert-t-matsui-us-courthouse/objects.

"Robert T. Matsui U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building", U.S. General Services Administration. Accessed September 9th, 2023. https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/regions/region-9-pacific-rim/buildings-and-facilities/california/robert-t-matsui-us-courthousefederal-building.

"The Honorable Robert T. Matsui", University of California, Washington Center. Accessed September 8th, 2023. https://www.ucdc.edu/honorable-robert-t-matsui.

"The Sacramento Office", U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California. Accessed September 9th, 2023. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/sacramento-office.