John Helm Pratt (November 17, 1910 – August 11, 1995) was an American lawyer and judge. Born in New Hampshire, Pratt spent most of his life in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

area, where he practiced law for 34 years before being appointed as a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District of ...

in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. As a federal judge, Pratt presided over a number of significant cases, including the

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

trial of

G. Gordon Liddy George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 – March 30, 2021) was an American lawyer, FBI agent, talk show host, actor, and convicted felon in the Watergate scandal as the chief operative in the White House Plumbers unit during the Nixon admi ...

and civil rights cases involving

school desegregation School integration in the United States is the process (also known as desegregation) of ending race-based segregation within American public and private schools. Racial segregation in schools existed throughout most of American history and rema ...

and discrimination based on

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

Early life and education

Pratt was born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, on November 17, 1910, to Harold B. and Marguerite R. Pratt.The Honorable John H. Pratt: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
, Oral History Project, The Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit (1992–1993). At age nine, he and his family moved to the

area,Louie Estrada
John H. Pratt Dies at 84
''Washington Post'' (August 12, 1995). after his father, a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

officer, was stationed in the area. Pratt and his family briefly moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

(where Pratt studied at the

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...

) but later returned to Washington, where Pratt graduated from Gonzaga College High School and served as a

United States Senate page A United States Senate Page (Senate Page or simply Page) is a high-school age teen serving the United States Senate in Washington, D.C. Pages are nominated by senators, usually from their home state, and perform a variety of tasks, such as delive ...

. Pratt studied at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

for two years before transferring to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where he received an

Artium Baccalaureus Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree ''cum laude'' in 1930 at the age of 19. Pratt then attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, receiving a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1934.Pratt, John Helm
''

Biographical Directory of Federal Judges The ''Biographical Directory of Federal Judges'' is a publication of the Federal Judicial Center providing basic biographical information on all past and present United States federal court Article III judges (those federal judges with life tenure ...

'',

Federal Judicial Center The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. According to , the main areas of respo ...

Military service and legal career

Pratt served in the

from 1942 and was discharged with the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1946. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served in the

Pacific theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, where he earned a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

and

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

.Pam Belluck
John H. Pratt, 84, Federal Judge Who Helped Define Civil Rights
''New York Times'' (August 14, 1994). He lost a left arm,John Garret Penn
John Helm Pratt
64 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 822 (1995–1996). in December 1944, in

Tacloban Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban ( war, Syudad han Tacloban; fil, Lungsod ng Tacloban), is a first class highly urbanized city in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. The city is autonomous from the province of Leyte, a ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. He convalesced at

Biak Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and c ...

Dutch New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdo ...

, and then at naval hospitals in the United States, including Bethesda Naval Hospital. Prior to taking the federal bench, Pratt was in the

private practice of law In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professio ...

in Washington, D.C. for 34 years. He was an associate at Morris, KixMiller & Baar from 1934 to 1942, and a partner at Morris, Pearce, Gardner & Pratt from 1946 to 1968, when he was appointed to the federal bench.

Federal judicial service

Pratt was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1968, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Alexander Holtzoff Alexander Holtzoff (November 7, 1886 – September 6, 1969) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Education and career Born in New York City, Holtzoff received an Artium Baccalaure ...

. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on June 6, 1968, and received his commission on June 7, 1968.

Notable cases

Pratt presided over a number of high-profile cases during his time on the bench, including the trial of

in connection with the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

. In 1974, Pratt oversaw the bench trial of Libby, finding him guilty of two counts of

contempt of Congress Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically, the bribery of a U.S. senator or U.S. representative was considered contempt of Congress. In modern times, contempt of Co ...

. Pratt also presided over ''Hoffa v. Saxbe'', a case in which former Teamsters leader James R. Hoffa unsuccessfully made a constitutional challenge to the condition of his 1971 presidential pardon barring him from engaging in "direct or indirect management of any labor union" until March 1980.
Hoffa v. Saxbe
', 378 F.Supp. 1221 (D.D.C. 1974). Pratt ruled in 1974 that the condition of the pardon was valid because (1) it had a direct relationship to the public interest and (2) it did not "unreasonably infringe" on Hoffa's constitutional freedoms. Pratt also issued rulings on important civil rights issues. He ordered the restoration of the Defense Department security clearances of two homosexuals in 1971, holding that "government security evaluators cannot subject homosexuals to 'probing personal questions' about their sex lives or withhold security clearances for refusal to answer such questions." Pratt also presided over another case, ''Adams v. Richardson'', brought by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. The NAACP sought to compel the

United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

(HEW) to speed up desegregation in schools.William A. Link, ''William Friday: Power, Purpose, and American Higher Education'' (2d ed: University of North Carolina Press, 1995), pp. 253-54. Pratt rejected the HEW's argument that Title VI of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

gave the department the discretion to wait for "voluntary compliance" from the states. Citing ''

Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education ''Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education'', 396 U.S. 19 (1969), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ordered immediate desegregation of public schools in the Southern United States, ...

'', Pratt ruled that desegregation was to occur "at once" in the 113 school districts, mostly in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

, that had failed to desegregate. Pratt also ordered the withholding of federal funding from school districts that failed to comply. Pratt's decision was largely affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, although it set a ten-month timeframe for states to create desegregation plans, rather than the four-month timeframe set by Pratt. Pratt also oversaw the long-running ''Evans'' case, involving conditions at the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

's Forest Haven institution in

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, a home for persons with

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

and developmental disabilities.
Evans v. Smith
', Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, University of Michigan Law School.Spencer S. Hsu
After 40 years, U.S. court ends supervision of D.C.'s care for mentally disabled citizens
''Washington Post'' (January 10, 2017). Pratt determined that "patients' constitutional rights to adequate care and treatment had been violated" and issued an order setting forth sweeping changes to be made at the facility, including the movement of 20% of patients to community treatment facilities and limits on the use of physical restraints. In 1990, Pratt held the district in civil contempt of court after learning that just two physicians were caring for 232 Forest Haven residents, including one who had been determined to be "professionally incompetent" by the Maryland Commission on Medical Discipline two years earlier. Pratt ruled that the district was "continuing obdurate resistance" to providing adequate services to the patients. After missing a 1988 court-imposed deadline to close Forest Haven, the district finally closed the facility in 1991. Pratt continued to oversee the case until his death, however. In 1995, Pratt announced that he would appoint a special master to oversee "the network of community-based living arrangements that have replaced Forest Haven" because of the district's delays in paying caseworkers and other providers; he appointed Margaret G. Farrell as special master the following year. Federal court monitoring of the district's programs for people with intellectual disabilities continued until 2017. In another notable case, ''Broderick v. Ruder'', Pratt ruled in favor of complainant Catherine A. Broderick, a

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

attorney, finding that Broderick had suffered from pervasive

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

at the SEC's regional office in Washington.Sharon Warren Walsh
Judge Finds Sexual Harassment at SEC Office
''New York Times'' (May 14, 1988).

Senior status and death

Pratt assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on December 1, 1989, and from then on chose to hear only civil cases. He called the Federal Sentencing Guidelines "atrocious" and believed they set forth excessively harsh penalties for first-time offenders. Pratt was also a critic of

mandatory minimum sentence Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term for certain crimes, commonly serious and violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are inst ...

s and in the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Pratt served as chairman of the Committee on Judicial Ethics of the

Judicial Conference of the United States The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial cour ...

from 1984 to 1990. He remained on the court until he died on August 11, 1995, at his home in

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...

, Maryland, of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

Personal life

Pratt married Bernice Safford Pratt, known as Sissy, on October 25, 1938. They had five children, four daughters and one son.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, John Helm 1910 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Deaths from cancer in Maryland Deaths from lung cancer Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Military personnel from New Hampshire People from Chevy Chase, Maryland People from Portsmouth, New Hampshire United States district court judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson United States Marine Corps officers Harvard College alumni