Program Book for the 250th Anniversary - Flipbook - Page 15
CHIEF JUSTICE EMERITUS THOMAS G. SAYLOR
Chief Justice Emeritus Thomas G. Saylor is the Judicial Scholar-in-Residence at the Thomas R. Kline Center for Judicial
Education at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University. In this role, he assists the Center in enhancing the
administration of justice through the delivery of high-quality judicial education. He also works with the Judicial Education
Department of the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts in developing substantive and skill-based courses that
meet the needs of Pennsylvania’s more than 500 trial and appellate jurists.
CJE Saylor was elected as a Justice to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for a 10-year term in 1997 and was retained for a
second term in 2007. Prior to his tenure on the Supreme Court, he served on the Pennsylvania Superior Court from 1993
through 1997. He was installed as the Chief Justice of Pennsylvania on January 6, 2015, he served in that position through
March of 2021, and he retired from the Supreme Court in December 2021. At this time, his colleagues conferred upon him
the appellation of Chief Justice Emeritus.
CJE Saylor started his career in the general practice of law in 1972 and was appointed First Assistant District Attorney in
Somerset County, PA, serving from 1973-76. He was named director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection
in the Office of Attorney General in 1982 and was promoted to First Deputy Attorney General for the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania in 1983, serving until 1987. He returned to private law practice until being elected to the Superior Court.
CJE Saylor is a member of the American Bar Association’s Appellate Judges Conference, the Pennsylvania Bar Association,
and the Cumberland and Dauphin County Bar Associations. He is also a member of the American Law Institute.
CJE Saylor has been a jurist-in-residence and an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law and has
authored numerous articles on various subjects, including constitutional law and the death penalty. He has received
honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the Widener University School of Law and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.
CJE Saylor holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, a Juris Doctorate from Columbia University School of
Law, and a Masters of Law from the University of Virginia School of Law.
