Peter Hill Beer

Peter Hill Beer (born April 12, 1928) is a Senior United States federal judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Beer was a sergeant in the United States Army toward the end of World War II, from 1945 to 1946. He received a B.B.A. from Tulane University in 1949 and an LL.B. from Tulane Law School in 1952. He was a captain in the U.S. Air Corps, JAG Corps from 1952 to 1955. He was in private practice in New Orleans, Louisiana from 1955 to 1974, serving on the New Orleans City Council from 1969 to 1974, including service as vice president from 1972 to 1974, and as acting president from 1973 to 1974. He was a judge on the Louisiana Court of Appeals from 1974 to 1979, and on the Louisiana Supreme Court from 1978 to 1979.

On October 11, 1979, Beer was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 26, 1979, and received his commission on November 27, 1979. He assumed senior status on April 12, 1994.

In 1986, Beer sentenced former Alexandria municipal finance and utilities commissioner Arnold Jack Rosenthal (1923–2010) to twenty-two months in prison for wire fraud. He also assessed a $2,000 fine on Rosenthal and directed three years of probation after completion of the incarceration.