Rolf Larsen

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Larsen went to Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, Santa Clara University School of Law, and then received his law degree from Penn State University, Dickinson School of Law. In 1974, he was elected judge of the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, a trial level court. He received notoriety as a trial judge after sentencing fathers to jail for failure to pay child support. Following that Larsen was elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1977. ==Pennsylvania Supreme Court==

He was sworn into office on January 5, 1978. In 1986, he received the Justice Musmanno Award from the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association. During his time as a supreme court justice he was described as simultaneously highly intelligent and irrational. Impeachment and removal from office In 1981, a public feud between Larsen and Justice Robert N. C. Nix, Jr. took on racial undertones when newspapers reported that Larsen allegedly threatened to publicize the fact that Nix was black in an attempt to defeat him for retention. Larsen was investigated and exonerated by a judicial board of inquiry, however, the disputes between the justices continued. In 1992, Larsen was accused of improperly communicating with a trial judge about a case. Larsen in turn filed court documents accusing Nix and other Justices of the Supreme Court of similar conduct. He is the only Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice to be removed by the Pennsylvania Senate in an impeachment process. His impeachment has been described as the most prominent impeachment of a state supreme court justice in U.S. history. Aftermath Amid these troubles and feuds involving Supreme Court justices in the early 1990s, specifically including Larsen, Pennsylvania voters sought to limit the "King's Bench" power. The public image of Justice Larsen made him a poster child for the need for court reform. The upheaval surrounding Larsen's time on the bench served as a catalyst for a much-needed change in the state judicial system. Notable opinions • Pugh v. Holmes, 486 Pa. 272, 405 A.2d 897 (Pa. 1979) - abandoned the doctrine of "Caveat Emptor", and held that residential leases contain an implied warranty of habitability. • In 1991, he authored the legal opinion upholding the death penalty for Gary Heidnick. ==Death==

On August 11, 2014, Larsen died of lung cancer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of 79, just fifteen days shy of what would have been his 80th birthday. ==References==