Thomas Saylor

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Thomas Saylor currently serves on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He was first elected to the court as a Republican in a partisan election in 1997; his current term expires in 2017 after winning a retention election in 2007.

  • Vote to retain: 1,184,546 (66.9%)
  • Vote not to retain: 586,330 (33.1%)[1]

Legal background

Thomas Saylor graduated with a B.A. in 1969 from the University of Virginia. In 1972, he graduated from Columbia University with a Juris Doctor. In 2004, Saylor graduated from the University of Virginia, LL.M.[2]

Legal career

From 1972 to 1982 Saylor was in private practice. From 1973 to 1976, he was First Assistant District Attorney, Somerset County. 1982-83, he was Director, Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection. 1983-87, Saylor was First Deputy Attorney General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and in 1987 he returned to private practice. In 1993, he was elected Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and in 1997, he was elected to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Associations

  • American Bar Association
  • Appellate Judges Conference
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association
  • Cumberland County Bar Association
  • Dauphin County Bar Association
  • American Law Institute
  • Board of Overseers, Widener University School of Law

Publications

2003: "Prophylaxis in Modern State Constitutionalism: New Judicial Federalism and the Acknowledged, Prophylactic Rule," 59 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 283

Campaign contributors

It took Saylor $1,043,908 to retain his seat in 2007. Lawyers and Lobbyists made up the largest group by economic interest with $212,095, or 20.32% of the total. The second largest group was contributions given by the Republican party with $203,988, or 19.54%. The third largest economic contributor was General Business, which gave $99,050, or 9.49%.[3]

Court favors newspapers

A newspaper does not have to turn over two reporters' computers to the Pennsylvania attorney general, the state Supreme Court has ruled. In a 20-page opinion, the justices labeled as "unduly intrusive" the government's attempt to seize the computers belonging to Lancaster Newspapers Inc. The company publishes the Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster New Era and Sunday News. The opinion by Justice Thomas Saylor also noted the "potential chilling effect" taking reporters' computers could have on sources providing confidential information. The dispute arises from a probe begun last fall by the attorney general into Lancaster Coroner G. Gary Kirchner's dealings with the press.[4]

Police Roadblocks

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the state's practice of stopping motorists at highway checkpoints, despite evidence that less-intrusive practical alternatives exist. Justice Thomas Saylor wrote for the majority that "the Court has found that suspicionless stops at such roadblocks are constitutionally reasonable." The court majority did not want to decide a constitutional issue on the basis of statistics. "The judiciary is in poor position to make judgments concerning the most effective among multiple reasonable police alternatives," the majority wrote. Justices Russell Nigro and Max Baer strongly disagreed, writing, "In the end, the statistics tell the simple tale that if more police manpower had been allocated to roving patrols instead of checkpoints, more drunk drivers would have been removed from the roads and our roads would have been safer places to travel."[5]

Intercepting phone calls

Ruling on a case of government eavesdropping, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that individuals have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" when answering telephone calls made to their own home, according to a legal industry newsletter. The "Legal Intelligencer," in a story carried on the website Law.com, said that the state's high court, in a "fractured" 4-3 ruling, noted that "the methods of telephone communication widely used today" precluded any privacy expectations. The majority said that "a person has no idea who may be listening in on the other end of the phone line and, therefore, cannot believe the information being discussed won't be revealed." At issue was a conversation that was taped as part of a drug investigation by the state's attorney general's office and the Cranberry Township Police Department, said the publication. Cappy, in his opinion, noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has said in several cases that where oral conversations are concerned, people have no justifiable expectation that a party or parties on the other end of the line will not reveal information exchanged in conversation to police. Justice Ronald Castille, along with Justice Thomas Saylor, issued concurring opinions.[6]

External links

References

  1. ↑ 2007 retention election results
  2. ↑ Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Thomas Saylor
  3. ↑ Follow the Money: Thomas Saylor
  4. ↑ Fox News
  5. ↑ The Newspaper
  6. ↑ Government can intercept phone calls


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