SAN FRANCISCO _ Judge Stephen Reinhardt, the liberal face of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, died Thursday afternoon, a court spokesman said. He was 87.
The spokesman said Reinhardt died of a heart attack during a visit to a dermatologist.
"All of us here at the 9th Circuit are shocked and deeply saddened by Judge Reinhardt's death," 9th Circuit Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas said. "We have lost a wonderful colleague and friend."
Thomas called Reinhardt "deeply principled, fiercely passionate about the law and fearless in his decisions."
"He will be remembered as one of the giants of the federal bench. He had a great life that ended much too soon," Thomas said.
Reinhardt, an appointee of former President Jimmy Carter, was dubbed the "liberal lion" of the federal circuit courts.
His rulings in favor of criminal defendants and immigrants were often overturned by the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
"He was a giant not just on the 9th Circuit but within the law," University of California, Berkeley law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky said. "He also was a judge with a particular vision of the law, based on enforcing the Constitution to protect people."
Reinhardt joined another judge in ruling that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance were unconstitutional, a decision that was later overturned.
He wrote a ruling that said laws prohibiting physician-assisted suicide were unconstitutional and another that overturned California's previous ban on same-sex marriage.
Reinhardt also lamented Supreme Court rulings that limited judges' ability to overturn convictions and sentences on habeas corpus and complained about the flaws in death penalty cases.
He was among the federal judges who decided that overcrowding in California's prison system was unconstitutional.
"His view was to decide cases as he believed the law required, not to predict what the Supreme Court would do," Chemerinsky said. "He was unapologetic about that."
