Name Ronald Buckwalter | Role Judge | |
Education Franklin & Marshall College | ||
Ronald Lawrence Buckwalter (born December 11, 1936) is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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Education and career
Buckwalter was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Franklin and Marshall College in 1958 and a Bachelor of Civil Law from William & Mary School of Law in 1962. Buckwalter was a legal aid attorney in Lancaster from 1964 to 1966, and then was a clerk to Judges John Bowman and Anthony Appel of the Court of Common Pleas in Lancaster County. He left that position to become an assistant district attorney of for the county in 1970, and was made a full district attorney in 1978. He was a judge on the Court of Common Pleas from 1980 to 1990.
Federal judicial service
Buckwalter was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on November 17, 1989, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania vacated by Judge Charles R. Weiner. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 9, 1990, and received commission on March 12. Buckwalter assumed senior status on December 11, 2003.
Notable case
In 2008, Buckwalter was assigned to preside over the corruption trial of Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo who was ultimately convicted on fraud and obstruction of justice charges. In July 2009, Buckwalter sentenced Fumo to 55 months in prison sparking criticism from the prosecutors and some media outlets, most notably the Philadelphia Inquirer, that the sentence was too lenient.