Gus J. Solomon; Judge, Champion of Civil Rights

U.S. District Judge Gus J. Solomon, who served longer than any federal jurist in Oregon history and championed the cause of civil rights throughout his 58-year career, has died at age 80.

Solomon, who died Sunday of complications resulting from cancer, became a federal judge in 1949 and was named chief judge of the federal district court 10 years later. He retired to senior status in 1971, but continued to hear cases.

In 1972, Solomon ruled that the Portland Elks Lodge could not receive state tax exemptions because of its racially exclusive membership policies.

In 1975, he ruled that Oregon discriminated against women by using different life expectancy tables for determining their retirement benefits.

In 1973, he struck down as unconstitutionally vague a statute that said a homosexual teacher could be fired for immorality.

He gained a reputation as a civil rights advocate in 1936 when, as an attorney, he took a free-speech case to the U.S. Supreme Court and won a unanimous decision. In that case, Solomon represented a man imprisoned for speaking at a public meeting called by the Communist Party.

The court found that Solomon’s client could not be prosecuted for speaking at a public meeting at which no laws had been broken or at which no one was incited to break the law.