ENROLLED
2018 First Extraordinary Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 1
BY REPRESENTATIVE MORENO
A RESOLUTION
To express the condolences of the House of Representatives upon the death of Judge Peter
Beer.
WHEREAS, Peter Hill Beer was born on April 12, 1928, in New Orleans, to Mose
and Henriette Lowenburg Beer; and
WHEREAS, after graduating from Isidore Newman School in 1945, Peter began a
life of noble public service, first by volunteering for the Army during what would be the
closing months of World War II; he became an infantry corporal and was honorably
discharged in 1946; and
WHEREAS, after he came home to New Orleans, he enrolled at Tulane University;
in 1949, he graduated and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve;
and
WHEREAS, Peter then enrolled in law school at Tulane, where he served as
president of the Student Bar Association; and
WHEREAS, he was recalled to active duty in the Korean conflict; after graduating
from law school, he continued his military service as a first lieutenant and, later, a captain
in the Air Force's Judge Advocate General's Corps; and
WHEREAS, in 1954, Mr. Beer began his civilian legal career with the law firm of
Montgomery, Barnett, Brown and Sessions, where he worked for two decades and became
managing partner; and
WHEREAS, in 1962, Peter Beer was called to action during the Cuban missile crisis;
a recipient of the Bronze Star, he retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Beer served a term on the New Orleans City Council from 1970 to
1974, and was elected to the state's Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal in 1974; and
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WHEREAS, Judge Beer stressed the importance of equal protection of individual
rights; in 1975, he ruled that a man's illegitimate daughter had the right to inherit her father's
property, arguing that the Louisiana Civil Code article that provided otherwise was
unconstitutional; the Legislature repealed that article in 1979; and
WHEREAS, that same year, President Carter nominated him to be a federal judge,
and he gave thirty years of honorable service as a jurist on the U.S. District Court in New
Orleans; and
WHEREAS, while on the bench, Judge Beer earned a master of laws degree at the
University of Virginia; in 2007, he received the Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Award for
his service to the school's trial advocacy program; and
WHEREAS, his retirement closed out a year in which he was the plaintiff in Beer v.
United States; he was one of six judges who sued to win cost-of-living pay raises; the
decision affected more than one thousand three hundred thirty federal judges; and
WHEREAS, Judge Beer is survived by his wife, Marjorie Beer, his children, Kenneth
Beer, Kimberly Beer Bailes, and Dana Beer; his stepchildren; seven grandchildren; six step-
grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren; and
WHEREAS, although the death of Judge Peter Beer has left a tremendous void in his
community and in the judicial system that he served so long and so well, his legacy shall
forever live in the hearts and minds of all the citizens whose lives he touched.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby express its sincere and heartfelt condolences upon the
death of Judge Peter Beer; does hereby recognize and record for posterity the contributions
and accomplishments of Judge Beer, an exemplary public servant, to the city of New Orleans
and to our state and nation; and does hereby pay tribute to Peter Beer for the generous and
effective way in which he dedicated his intelligence and his energy to justice.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
to the family of Judge Peter Beer.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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