E. Barrett Prettyman

:"For the educator and Towson University president, see Elijah Barrett Prettyman."Elijah Barrett Prettyman (1891-1971) was an American jurist. He served as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1945 until he assumed senior status on April 16, 1962. He remained a senior judge until his death in 1971.

Educated at Randolph-Macon College and Georgetown University Law School, Prettyman began the practice of law in Hopewell, Virginia in 1915. After serving in the United States Army during World War I, he spent the next three and one-half decades either in private practice, working as a corporation counsel, or working for the U.S. Bureau of Internal Revenue. In 1945, President Harry S. Truman appointed Prettyman to the bench to fill the seat vacated by Judge Justin Miller. From 1958-1960, he served as Chief Judge of the court.

In 1997, the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse was named in his memory. Years earlier, Prettyman had advocated the establishment of the triangular 24-foot high monument with excerpts and scenes from the nation’s founding documents that sits in front of the Courthouse.

References

* [http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=1937 Federal Judicial Center biographical data]
* [http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/court-history.html History of the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse]
* [http://prettyman.ourfamily.com/building/courthou/courthou.htm A Tribute to a Champion of the Law: U.S. Courthouse Named After Longtime Appellate Judge] (Washington Post, March 27, 1997) at Prettyman family site