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Seamus P. McCaffery (born June 3, 1950) is an American retired Justice on the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...
. He is a member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
. Prior to his election to the Supreme Court, he was a judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and prior to that was a municipal court judge in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. He was the judge at "Eagles Court", an ''ad hoc'' court created to deal with unruly fans at
Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...
games.


Personal

McCaffery was born in
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...
in 1950. His family emigrated to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
when he was five. He graduated from
Cardinal Dougherty High School upright=1.35, CDHS marching band at the World Music Championship 1966 Cardinal Dougherty High School (CDHS) was a private, Roman Catholic high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphi ...
in Philadelphia and joined the
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...
. After leaving active duty, McCaffery joined the
Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...
and joined the
Philadelphia Police Department The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD or Philly PD) is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PPD is one of the oldest municipal police agencies, fourth largest ...
. He served in the police department for 20 years, rising to sergeant. While a police officer, McCaffery put himself through university at
La Salle University La Salle University () is a private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle. History L ...
and law school at
Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...
. He became a member of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. bars and worked as a litigation associate. In 2008 he retired as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He is also a 33° Mason.


Judicial career

In 1993, McCaffery won election to 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 ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
game between the Eagles and the
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
. 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 Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street (Philadelphia), Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capa ...
, and handed out fines or jail time to fans arrested during games. Prior to protests at the
2000 Republican National Convention The 2000 Republican National Convention convened at the First Union Center (now the Wells Fargo Center) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 31 to August 3, 2000. The 2000 delegates assembled at the convention nominated Texas Governor Georg ...
in Philadelphia, McCaffery announced a plan for the preventive detention of protesters. Because of this, defense attorneys asked him to recuse himself from trials involving the protests, but he refused, without hearing the arguments. He was elected to the Superior Court in 2003 and successfully ran for the Supreme Court in 2007, where he was a landslide winner attaining over 2 million votes statewide.


Resignation

McCaffery abruptly resigned from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on October 27, 2014, one week after his October 20, 2014 suspension by four fellow Justices and the public disclosure by Chief Justice Ronald Castille that Justice McCaffery had sent or received 234 emails containing pornography between late 2008 and May 2012 to an agent in the attorney general's office. The Chief Justice had requested copies of the emails from Attorney General
Kathleen Kane Kathleen Granahan Kane (born Kathleen Margaret Granahan; June 14, 1966) is an American former politician and lawyer who served as the 48th Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 2013 until her resignation in 2016 following her conviction for per ...
. A fellow justice,
Michael Eakin J. Michael Eakin (born 1948) is an American lawyer, who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was elected to the State's Supreme Court in 2001 as a Republican. In November 2011, Justice Eakin won judici ...
, (who abstained from the suspension vote) also had gone public with an accusation he filed on October 17, 2014, that Justice McCaffery tried to coerce him into taking his side against Chief Justice Castille. The justices voting to suspend McCaffery cited King's Bench power to "protect and preserve the integrity" of the state's judicial system. The justices, in their order suspending McCaffery, directed the state Judicial Conduct Board, which was already investigating McCaffery, to determine within 30 days whether there was "probable cause to file formal misconduct charges" against him. The court said McCaffery may also have allowed his wife, who was his chief legal clerk, to collect legal referral fees while she was a state court employee, and he may have tried to fix a traffic ticket for her. In his concurring statement on the suspension, Chief Justice Castille described McCaffery as exhibiting the traits of a
sociopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been u ...
. The Supreme Court confirmed McCaffery's resignation in an order lifting his suspension. McCaffery's retirement agreement not to seek senior judge status and not seek future judicial positions ended the state Judicial Conduct Board investigation of him. By retiring instead of being
impeached Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...
, McCaffery was able to keep an $11,000 per month retirement benefit ($134,000 annual pension) from the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS) paid for by Pennsylvania taxpayers, even after he cashed out $455,000 of his own contributions plus interest.


See also

*
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...


External links


Biography at the Pennsylvania Superior Court


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCaffery, Seamus 1950 births Living people British emigrants to the United States Politicians from Philadelphia Irish emigrants to the United States American police detectives Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania La Salle University alumni Temple University Beasley School of Law alumni Philadelphia Police Department officers Judges of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Democrats Lawyers from Belfast Police officers from Belfast