Nixon era judges celebrate 30 years on the bench.

The year was 1970. The Vietnam War dragged on; National Guard troops killed four students at a protest at Kent State University; and Richard Nixon resided in the White House when he appointed four lawyers from Florida as federal judges.

Peter Fay, James Lawrence King, Paul Roney and Gerald Tjoflat all went through Senate confirmation hearings together.

Three decades later, that Floridian foursome celebrates 120 years on the federal bench between them.

Besides impressive longevity, there will be a laudatory occasion on September 14 when Judge King, the 72-year-old senior judge of the Southern District of Florida, will be honored with the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award, likened in legal circles to an Oscar for lifetime achievement.

They're all friends. They're colleagues who have watched the courts grow, caseloads skyrocket, issues shift and the country change. And they're public servants who know what it's like to be the target of death threats and guarded by marshals 24-7 for months at a time.

Through it all, they still love their jobs. Unlike state judges who are subject to "constitutional senility" and mandatory retirement during the term they hit age 70, federal judges "serve life plus 10," as Judge Fay joked.

This quartet of the third branch isn't about to retire.

"It went by in a hurry. It seems like yesterday that we were going through the Senate confirmation hearings together," said 70-year-old 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Gerald Tjoflat in Jacksonville. "I'll be doing this till the Almighty says it's time to quit."

"People ask me: 'Are you still working?' And I say, 'No.' If you don't have to do it and you enjoy it, you can't call it work," said 79-year-old Paul Roney, senior judge of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Petersburg. "I don't have to do it. I do enjoy it. And it is something I can't imagine myself not doing."

From his North Carolina summer home, 71-year-old Fay, senior judge of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami, said: "I'm sitting here reading briefs...I'll keep working till they put me in a box."

And when Judge Fay looks back on his long distinguished career on the federal bench that was launched with three other Floridians, he remarks: "We've sure become four close, good friends."

These four federal judges took time out to reflect on their collective 120 years on the bench:

James Lawrence King

Here's how dangerous the job of federal judge can be: The "Black Tuna Gang" wanted Judge King dead.

Thankfully, it was the FBI who succeeded in first arresting the drug conspirators who were eventually convicted of paying $1 million to a New Jersey organized crime family to eliminate Judge King.

Three times in 30 years, Judge King and his family were guarded by federal marshals 24 hours a day for months at a time.

As Judge King said in 1990: "Courage is the ability to do what you know is right, even in the face of fear."

He has presided over many of South Florida's most intriguing courtroom dramas: Iran-Contra, Colombian drug cartels, Cuba's shoot down of the Brothers to the Rescue plane, Operation Court Broom.

And when he walks to work each morning, he's gratified to see his name on the 12-story federal justice building in downtown Miami, the city where he was born.

"Such an honor had never before been bestowed upon the living, but was entirely appropriate for the venerable Judge King," former Florida Bar and American Bar President Chesterfield Smith wrote in a letter nominating King for the Devitt Award, administered by the American Judicature Society.

Smith's nomination letter was joined by more than 65 other letters of support, including those from former Attorney General Griffin Bell, former FBI Chief William Sessions, current FBI Chief Louis Freeh, former U.S. special prosecutor Kenneth Starr and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Florida.

In a ceremony later this month in Miami, complete with a personal visit from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Judge King will receive that coveted Devitt Award.

"I'm terribly excited about the award," said Judge Fay, who had nominated his friend for the Devitt Award a decade ago. "He's very deserving. We're very, very close friends. We eat lunch together three or four times a week. I don't know of anyone in our country who has devoted more energy or time to the betterment of the federal court than Larry King."

Judge Fay and Judge King have been friends for more than 45 years. Their wives were sorority sisters in college together. In the early '60s, when Judge Fay served on The Florida Bar Board of Governors, Judge King was president of what was then called the Junior Bar (now the Young Lawyers Division). He recalls helping launch the Junior Bar's big project that continues in a much more sophisticated form to this day: an educational program to help with the transition of law school graduates into the practice of law.

Judge King has known Judge Tjoflat back when they were both state circuit judges.

"I was a state circuit...