Longtime Court journalist David Pike dies; November 5, 2007

Lyle Denniston | Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 1:58 pm
David Pike, who covered the Supreme Court for 11 years for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, died Monday night at his home in Washington, D.C., after suffering a heart attack. He was 68 years old. Pike had spent much of his career as a courthouse journalist, covering the U.S. District Court and the D.C. Circuit Court for the Washington Star.  He later covered legal news for the National Law Journal, and was the first first-time journalist at the Supreme Court for the Los Angeles Daily Journal.  He retired at the end of 2004, and was succeeded on the “beat” by Brent Kendall.

 David and Caroline Gabel were to be married during Thanksgiving week.
He collapsed at home after being released Monday from a hospital, where he had surgery that was unrelated to any heart condition.  Emergency medical aides were unable to revive him.

http://www.scotusblog.com/2007/11/longtime-court-journalist-david-pike-dies/

1. I was deeply saddened to here the news. I had the pleasure of working under David Pike when he was The National Law Journal. An excellent editor, but also a great guy to be around. After all these years, I remember fondly working together.
   Comment by Stuart Wise — November 6, 2007
   
2. Pike was one of those rare people whose kindness matched his talent. As an editor he had enormous respect. There were no stupid questions with him, he never get cranky on deadline and his reporters gave him their best work out of respect rather than intimidation.
   As a SCOTUS reporter, he had this amazing ability to write a one-sentence lede that you understood on first read. His writing was always clean, and basically devoid of prepositional phrases, to-be verbs etc. Yet it gave sophisticated readers exactly what they wanted. Pike retired before the Internet gave some SCOTUS reporters quasi superstar status, but I think among lawyers he was one of the most respected reporters covering the Court.
   Finally, he was a fun guy. One of my favorite stories had to do with his cat, Malcolm, who was born on Malcolm X’s birthday.
   Comment by Stephanie Francis Ward — November 6, 2007
   
3. This is terribly sad news. What a smart, thoughtful, inquisitive, gentle, friendly person. He’ll be much missed, and I hope an appropriate D.C. memorial gathering does indeed take place.
   Comment by Dave Garrow — November 7, 2007