Harry Pregerson, liberal lion of the 9th Circuit, dies

LOS ANGELES -- Harry Pregerson, the iconic 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge known for his liberal jurisprudence and advocacy for the disadvantaged, is dead.

Pregerson, 94, died Saturday at his Woodland Hills home with his family.

Appointed to the 9th Circuit by President Jimmy Carter, Pregerson was among the court's most progressive judges, famously announcing during his Senate confirmation hearing, "If I had to follow my conscience or the law, I would follow my conscience."

During his 36 years of active status on the bench and two years of senior status service, Pregerson followed through on that promise, often riling conservatives.

Pregerson often sided with inmates on death row and non-citizens facing removal orders.

In one of the last published opinions he wrote, Pregerson ruled that the U.S. Coast Guard detained based solely on his Latino ethnicity an illegal immigrant who called for help after being stranded off the Channel Islands Harbor.

Pregerson wrote a separate concurrence, excoriating the government for using information obtained by illegal immigrants seeking legal status to later remove them.

"This troubling end-around the exclusionary rule corrupts our justice system," Pregerson lamented. "The Government should not be allowed to flout the protections of the Fourth Amendment and then use a noncitizen's application for immigration relief against her or him."

This language was typical for the Los Angeles native, whose life was dedicated to his country and public service.

In 2011, he called a majority decision deporting the father of two U.S. citizen children, one of whom had a developmental disability, "unconscionable."

Pregerson was born on October 13, 1923 in East Los Angeles. He attended college at UCLA, where he was popular among his classmates, becoming only the second student body president to be elected without belonging to a fraternity. Even then devoted to serving, Pregerson organized a contest to encourage students to pick tomatoes in the San Fernando Valley to support the war effort.

Pregerson left UCLA in 1944 to enlist in the Marines. He fought at the Battle of Okinawa, and was injured, earning a purple heart.

After the war he returned to UCLA, finishing his degree in 1947. He enrolled in UC Berkeley School of Law, graduating in 1950.

Pregerson was first appointed to the bench in 1965, sitting for a year on the Municipal Court of Los Angeles and then moving to the Superior Court bench.

President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Pregerson to the Central District in 1967, where he sat until 1979, when he was elevated to the 9th Circuit.

Off the bench, the charismatic Pregerson, who was hardly seen without his trademark cane and rugged fedora, was noted for his dedication to charitable causes.

In the 1980s, he founded the Bell Homeless Shelter, a 40,000-square-foot hangar in Southeast Los Angeles, where homeless men and women come to receive housing, health care and counseling.

Despite Pregerson's liberal streak, he kept a watchful eye on the government, calling foul when he saw overreach. Most notably, Pregerson ruled that the federal government could not interfere with state medical marijuana laws. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned his ruling.