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Robert W. Pratt

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Robert W. Pratt
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
Incumbent
Assumed office
July 1, 2012
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
In office
2006–2011
Preceded byRonald Earl Longstaff
Succeeded byJames E. Gritzner
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
In office
May 27, 1997 – July 1, 2012
Appointed byBill Clinton
Preceded byHarold Duane Vietor
Succeeded byStephanie Marie Rose
Personal details
Born (1947-05-03) May 3, 1947 (age 77)
Emmetsburg, Iowa, U.S.
EducationIowa Lakes Community College (AA)
Loras College (BA)
Creighton University (JD)

Robert William Pratt (born May 3, 1947)[1] is an inactive senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.[2]

Education and career

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Pratt was born in Emmetsburg, Iowa. He received an Associate of Arts degree from Iowa Lakes Community College in 1967, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loras College in 1969, and a Juris Doctor from Creighton University School of Law in 1972.[2] In college, he worked as a construction laborer and factory worker.[1] He was a staff attorney of Polk County Legal Aid Society from 1973 to 1974, during which time his colleagues included future Senator Tom Harkin.[3] He was in private practice in Des Moines, Iowa from 1975 to 1997 at Funaro, Brick, & Pratt, then at Hedberg, Brick, Tann, Pratt & Ward, and then as a sole practitioner.[1] His areas of practice included personal injury, workers' compensation, Social Security, federal indigent criminal defense, and union-side labor law.[1][3] When he was confirmed, he described himself as having "devoted all of [his] practice to the problems of the low income and working class people of Iowa."[1] He jokes that he "is the only lawyer to have left legal aid and gotten poorer clients."[4] He also worked for Harkin's political campaigns.[1]

Federal judicial service

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On January 7, 1997, Pratt was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa vacated by Judge Harold Duane Vietor. Senator Tom Harkin recommended Pratt for the position.[1] Pratt was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 23, 1997, and received his commission on May 27, 1997. He served as chief judge from 2006 to 2011. He assumed senior status on July 1, 2012.[2] Pratt became inactive in 2023.

Pratt is a longtime opponent of the United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines and mandatory sentencing. He wrote in 1999 that "we [have] built a system that incarcerates our fellow citizens for inordinately long periods of time, wastes huge amounts of taxpayer dollars, ruins lives, and does not accomplish the stated purpose."[5] Even after the Sentencing Guidelines became advisory in United States v. Booker, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit continued to strictly enforce them, and it reversed Pratt nine times for sentencing below the guidelines.[3] In one of those cases, Gall v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the Eighth Circuit and reaffirmed Pratt's decision to depart from the Sentencing Guidelines to sentence a man to probation rather than prison for a drug crime.[6] Pratt has taught sentencing seminars through the Federal Judicial Center.[3] He has also issued notable decisions upholding Iowa's campaign finance regulations and merit selection system for choosing state judges.[7]

In a December 28, 2020, interview with the Associated Press, Pratt criticized President Donald Trump for his pardons, stating that "[i]t's not surprising that a criminal like Trump pardons other criminals" and that "[a]pparently to get a pardon, one has to be either a Republican, a convicted child murderer or a turkey."[8] In June 2021, Pratt apologized for those comments.[9]

On September 13, 2021, Pratt issued a temporary restraining order blocking Iowa House File 847, which prohibits local school districts from putting mask mandates in place. This temporary restraining order allowed local school boards to pass their own mask mandates.[10] The Eighth Circuit affirmed Judge Pratt's decision.[11]

Pratt is an elected member of the American Law Institute.[4] He is married with three children.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress, First Session, on Confirmations of Appointees to the Federal Judiciary, March 18; May 7; June 25; July 22, 1997. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1997. p. 151.
  2. ^ a b c Robert W. Pratt at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  3. ^ a b c d e Rogers, Aaron; Callahan, Margaret (2018). No One Is Above The Law: The Story of Southern Iowa's Federal Court. Des Moines, IA: Lexecon Content Marketing. pp. 150–164.
  4. ^ a b "The Hon. Robert W. Pratt". American Law Institute. Archived from the original on October 16, 2019.
  5. ^ Pratt, Robert (January 10, 1999). "Senseless Sentencing: A Federal Judge Speaks Out". The November Coalition. Archived from the original on April 3, 2020.
  6. ^ Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38 (2007).
  7. ^ Belin, Laura (November 14, 2012). "Judge Robert Pratt Legacy Thread". Bleeding Heartland. Archived from the original on June 23, 2020.
  8. ^ Foley, Ryan J. (December 29, 2020). "Federal judge in Iowa ridicules Trump's pardons". Associated Press. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  9. ^ Foley, Ryan J. (June 30, 2021). "US judge apologizes for 'partisan' comments on Trump pardons". Associated Press. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  10. ^ Gruber-Miller, Stephen. "Read a federal judge's order temporarily blocking Iowa's ban on mask mandates in schools". Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  11. ^ Richardson, Ian (May 16, 2022). "No mask mandates in Iowa schools, for now, court rules; exceptions could be made in future". The Des Moines Register.
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Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
1997–2012 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
2006–2011 		Succeeded by
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