Robert W. Pratt

Born in Emmetsburg, Iowa, Pratt 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.[1] In college, he worked as a construction laborer and factory worker.[2] He was a staff attorney of Polk County Legal Aid Society from 1973 to 1974. 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.[2] His areas of practice included personal injury, workers' compensation, Social Security, and union-side labor law.[2] 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."[2] He jokes that he "is the only lawyer to have left legal aid and gotten poorer clients."[3] He also worked for Tom Harkin's political campaigns.[2]

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 Harold Duane Vietor. Tom Harkin recommended Pratt for the position.[2] 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.

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."[4] In Gall v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed the United States Court of Appeals for 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.[5] Pratt has also issued notable decisions upholding Iowa's campaign finance regulations and merit selection system for choosing state judges.[6]

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.”[7]

Pratt is an elected member of the American Law Institute.[3]

• Robert W. Pratt at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.