Retirement ceremony held for first Indiana Tax Court Judge Thomas G. Fisher
State leaders attended a ceremony on December 17, 2010 honoring the service of Judge Thomas G. Fisher, Indiana’s first Tax Court Judge, who stepped down from the bench on January 16, 2011. The event allowed state officials, the legal community, and the public to show appreciation for Judge Fisher’s state service.
The ceremony included remarks from Governor Mitch Daniels’ counsel David L. Pippen, Indiana Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard, Court of Appeals Chief Judge John Baker, Indiana bar associations, and former law clerks. Judge Fisher was appointed to the Indiana Tax Court by Governor Robert Orr in 1986. During his career on the bench, Judge Fisher decided approximately 800 cases. For each case there has been at least one court session and sometimes more.
He has served on the Judicial Advisory Board, Law and Organizational Economics Institute, University of Kansas, 1997-1999; the Earlham College Board of Trustees, 1995-2004; and the Indiana Supreme Court Commission on Race & Gender Fairness. In April 2010, Judge Fisher was inducted into the Indiana University Maurer School of Law Academy of Alumni Law Fellows.
Judge Paul D. Mathias receives award for commitment to civic education in Indiana
Court of Appeals Judge Paul D. Mathias was recently recognized by the Indiana Bar Foundation for his longstanding commitment to civic education in Indiana. On December 12, 2010, Judge Mathias received the William G. Baker Award, honoring attorneys who show outstanding dedication to citizenship education. Judge Mathias was cited for his work with the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program at both the state level and in the Third Congressional District in northeast Indiana.
Judge Mathias has been involved with We the People since the program’s inception in 1987. Judge Mathias annually recruits many volunteer attorneys and civic leaders as judges for the Third Congressional District We the People competition, now the nation’s second largest.
To learn more about Judge Paul D. Mathias, please visit the Court of Appeals website at courts.in.gov/appeals/bios/mathias.html. For more information about the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, please visit the Indiana Bar Foundation’s website at www.inbf.org/we_the_people.
Lake County courthouse dedicated as the Robert D. Rucker Courthouse in Gary, Indiana
The Lake County Board of Commissioners held a ceremony on December 3, 2010 dedicating the Lake County Courthouse in Gary as the Robert D. Rucker Courthouse in honor of Indiana Supreme Court Justice Robert Rucker who is a Gary native. The Lake County Commissioners voted in favor of naming the building at 15 W. 4th Avenue after Justice Rucker. The building houses a number of Lake County Superior Courts.
Commissioner Roosevelt Allen said they voted for him: “… in recognition of the distinguished, exemplary career of Justice Rucker. Black male role models such as President Obama and Justice Robert Rucker will inspire countless numbers of black males, both nationally and within our community, to aspire to greatness and help our nation to remain the pre-eminent country in the world.”
Justice Rucker was born in Georgia and grew up in Gary, Indiana and is a veteran of the Vietnam War. He is a graduate of Indiana University (B.A. 1974) and Valparaiso University School of Law (J.D. 1976). In 1998, he earned a Master of Laws degree in the judicial process from the University of Virginia Law School.
Robert Rucker is the 105th Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court. He was appointed to the Court by Governor Frank O’Bannon in 1999. Prior to his appointment to the Indiana Supreme Court, Justice Rucker served as a Judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals, having been appointed to that position in 1991 by Governor Evan Bayh.