John Helm Pratt
Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 and confirmed by voice vote, John Helm Pratt was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1934. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1910–1995
- Appointed by
- Lyndon B. Johnson, 1968
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Harvard 1930 · Harvard Law School 1934
- Succeeded
- Alexander Holtzoff
- Succeeded by
- Michael Boudin
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | District of Columbia succeeded Alexander Holtzoff | L.B. Johnson (D) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| Harvard University | A.B. | 1930 |
| Harvard Law School | LL.B. | 1934 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Pratt was assigned 878 district-court cases (1979–1995). Median time from filing to termination: 276 days across 878 closed cases.
Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.
In our data, Pratt authored 239 published opinions for the court (1969–1995). Most cited: Albuquerque Publishing Co. v. United States Department of Justice (80 citations).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Recent & notable rulings
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Albuquerque Publishing Co. v. United States Department of Justice | 726 F. Supp. 851 | 80 |
| 1972 | Sierra Club v. Ruckelshaus | 344 F. Supp. 253 | 55 |
| 1973 | Adams v. Richardson | 356 F. Supp. 92 | 51 |
| 1977 | Hoffman v. Washington Post Co. | 433 F. Supp. 600 | 47 |
| 1988 | Broderick v. Ruder | 685 F. Supp. 1269 | 43 |
| 1974 | National Welfare Rights Organization v. Weinberger | 377 F. Supp. 861 | 41 |
| 1993 | Paegle v. Department of the Interior | 813 F. Supp. 61 | 39 |
| 1977 | Congressional News Syndicate v. United States Department of Justice | 438 F. Supp. 538 | 37 |
| 1977 | Fonda v. Central Intelligence Agency | 434 F. Supp. 498 | 32 |
| 1975 | Securities & Exchange Commission v. General Refractories Co. | 400 F. Supp. 1248 | 31 |
| 1973 | Adams v. Richardson | 351 F. Supp. 636 | 31 |
| 1990 | Rydeen v. Quigg | 748 F. Supp. 900 | 29 |
| 1974 | Kurylas v. U. S. Department of Agriculture | 373 F. Supp. 1072 | 28 |
| 1969 | Yablonski v. United Mine Workers of America | 305 F. Supp. 868 | 28 |
| 1976 | Underwood v. Hills | 414 F. Supp. 526 | 27 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 239 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed John Helm Pratt?
- President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed John Helm Pratt to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 1968.
- Was John Helm Pratt appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- John Helm Pratt was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was John Helm Pratt's confirmation vote?
- John Helm Pratt was confirmed by voice vote on June 6, 1968. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was John Helm Pratt on?
- John Helm Pratt was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
27 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).