Seamus McCaffery

Seamus McCaffery (born June 3, 1950) is a Justice on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to his election to the Supreme Court, he was a judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and a municipal court judge in Philadelphia. He gained notoriety as the judge at "Eagles Court", an ad hoc court created to deal with unruly fans at Philadelphia Eagles games.

Personal

McCaffery was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1950. His family emigrated to the United States when he was five. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07311/831805-178.stm Tom Barnes, "Pennsylvania Supreme Court: McCaffery wins; Todd jumps to lead in top court races", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/7/07] ] He graduated from Cardinal Dougherty High School in Philadelphia and joined the United States Marine Corps, serving in Vietnam.

After leaving active duty, McCaffery joined the Marine Corps Reserve and joined the Philadelphia Police Department. He served in the police department for 20 years, rising to Sergeant in the Homicide Unit. While a police officer, McCaffery put himself through university at LaSalle University and law school at Temple University. [ [http://www.citypaper.net/articles/092597/cover.shtml Frank Lewis, "Famous Seamus", Philadelphia City Paper, 9/25/97] ]

He recently retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, and is also a 33° Mason. [ [http://www.pagrandlodge.org/freemason/1104/seamus.html Pa Freemason Nov 04 Seamus McCaffery ] ]

Judicial career

In 1993, McCaffery won election to the municipal court in Philadelphia. With support from members of the city council, he developed Eagles Court in 1998 in response to a 1997 Monday Night Football game between the Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers. With over 60 fistfights reported at the nationally televised game, stadium violence became an embarrassment for the city. McCaffery presided over the court, which was convened in the basement of Veterans Stadium, and handed out fines or jail time to fans arrested during games. [ cite book
last = Didinger
first = Ray
authorlink =
coauthors = Robert Lyons
editor =
others =
title = The Eagles Encyclopedia
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=yV7lvstPuqgC&
format =
accessdate = 05
accessyear = 2008
accessmonth = 01
edition =
series =
date =
year =
month =
publisher = Temple University Press
isbn = 1592134491
pages = 230]

Although his "Eagles Court" is possibly outlawed by Article I, Section 15 of the Pennsylvania State Constitution, which reads, "No commission shall issue creating special temporary criminal tribunals to try particular individuals or particular classes of cases", the court's jurisdiction and legality was never questioned.

He was elected to the Superior Court in 2003 [ [http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?FunctionID=13&ElectionID=9&OfficeID=9 Commonwealth of PA - Elections Information ] ] and successfully ran for the Supreme Court in 2007. [ [http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?FunctionID=13&ElectionID=26&OfficeID=8 Commonwealth of PA - Elections Information ] ]

ee also

* Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

External links

* [http://www.superior.court.state.pa.us/bios.htm#mccaffery Biography at the Pennsylvania Superior Court]

References