Judge Thomas J. Faulconer

Thomas J. Faulconer, a lifelong Indianapolis resident, graduated from Shortridge High School and Butler University.  He received his law degree from Valparaiso University School of Law. 

Judge Faulconer began his career as an Indiana Deputy Attorney General and a Marion County deputy prosecutor.  In 1958 he won election to the Criminal Court of Marion County at the age of 35.  At his first jury trial in 1959, he surprised colleagues and the bar by allowing television and still cameras to cover the murder trial of Connie Nicholas, accused of killing Forrest Teel, a top Eli Lilly executive.  The case received national attention.  Judge Faulconer remained a proponent of camera-coverage of trial courts for the rest of his career.

Governor Matthew Welch appointed Judge Faulconer to the Appellate Court of Indiana on December 23, 1963 to finish the term of Judge French Clements, who died in office.  Judge Faulconer won election as a Democrat to the Appellate Court in 1964 and served one term before running unsuccessfully for election to the Indiana Supreme Court in 1968.  He served as Chief Judge of the Appellate Court during the November 1964 term.  In 1970, he ran again for the Appellate Court, losing by a slim margin. 

In 1971, Judge Faulconer was named the first full-time Federal Magistrate in Indiana and two years later became chief magistrate. 

During his nearly 25-year career, he presided over more than 12,000 cases, including 137 first-degree murder trials.  Judge Faulconer is also known in legal circles for his dissenting opinion in Metropolitan Transit Authority v. State of Indiana, in the court held in 1968 that a governor does not have pocket veto power over bills passed by the Indiana General Assembly.