Ernest D. Preate, Jr. (born November 22, 1940) is a former Republican Pennsylvania Attorney General. As Attorney General, he argued before the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case, Planned Parenthood of Southeast Pennsylvania v. Casey on behalf of Robert P. Casey, then governor of Pennsylvania. Preate also successfully argued another landmark case, in the United States Supreme Court addressing the death penalty. In 1995, Preate went to jail after pleading guilty to mail fraud charges.