Seamus McCaffery

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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.

1 Personal
2 Judicial career
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Personal

McCaffery was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1950. His family emigrated to the United States when he was five. ^[1] 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. ^[2]

He recently retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, and is also a 33° Mason. ^[3]

[edit] 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. ^[4]

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^[5] and successfully ran for the Supreme Court in 2007.^[6]