Ernie Preate

Ernie Preate
41st Attorney General of Pennsylvania
In office
January 17, 1989[1] – June 23, 1995[2]
GovernorRobert P. Casey
Tom Ridge
Preceded byLeRoy S. Zimmerman
Succeeded byTom Corbett
Personal details
Born (1940-11-22) November 22, 1940 (age 83)
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Political partyRepublican
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania (BS, JD)
Professionlawyer

Ernest D. Preate, Jr. (born November 22, 1940)[3] is a former Republican[4] Pennsylvania Attorney General. As Attorney General, he argued before the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case, Planned Parenthood of Southeast Pennsylvania v. Casey on behalf of Robert P. Casey, then governor of Pennsylvania. Preate also successfully argued another landmark case, Blystone v. Pennsylvania in the United States Supreme Court addressing the death penalty.[5]

Prior to serving as Attorney General, Preate was elected Lackawanna County District Attorney. He ran for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1994, but came in second for the Republican nomination behind then-congressman Tom Ridge, who won the general election.

In 1995, Preate went to jail after pleading guilty to mail fraud charges.[6]

  1. ^ "Casey welcomes Knoll, Hafer, Preate to Office". The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. January 18, 1989. Retrieved November 21, 2011.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Moran, Robert (June 24, 1995). "Preate Is Gone But Not Quite Forgotten The Attorney General's Resignation Became Official Yesterday". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A-1. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2012.
  3. ^ "Ernest D. Preate, Jr". Law Offices of Ernest D. Preate, Jr. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  4. ^ "Pennsylvania's No. 3 Official Agrees to Plea On Mail Fraud". The New York Times. Pennsylvania. June 10, 1995. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  5. ^ "Google Scholar". Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  6. ^ "Judge invokes seldom-used law: Orie must pay back taxpayers for her legal defense - philly-archives". Philly.com. July 5, 2012. Retrieved January 30, 2016.