Gesell, Gerhard A(lden)

born June 16, 1910, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.

died Feb. 19, 1993, Washington, D.C.

U.S. judge.

He earned a law degree from Yale University, and he served as an attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission (1935–40) and in private practice in Washington, D.C. (1941–67). In 1967 Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. There he struck down a local ban on abortion (1969) and allowed the resumption of publication of the Pentagon Papers (1971). He ruled in 1974 that national security was not a valid reason for the 1971 Watergate break-in and made other significant rulings regarding the scandal. In charges stemming from the Iran-Contra Affair, he presided over the criminal trial of National Security Council staff member Lt. Col. Oliver North in 1989. He remained on the bench until his death.

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