June 16, 2011

Longtime U.S. District Judge Jaime Pieras died on June 11, 2011, at age 87. Born in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1924, Judge Pieras earned his bachelor’s degree at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and his law degree from Georgetown University. He served as an officer in the Army from 1946 to 1947. After graduating from law school in 1948, Judge Pieras returned to Puerto Rico and worked in private practice until 1982. That year, he was nominated to the federal bench by President Ronald Regan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Serving on the U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico, he was given senior judge status in 1993 and continued to handle cases until falling ill. Among Judge Pieras’ well-known cases was Brown v. the Puerto Rico Bar Association, in which he sided with the plaintiff’s argument against the legality of compulsory life insurance for bar association members. That case worked through the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, where the ruling was mostly upheld.