Thomas M. Fisher

Thomas M. Fisher has served as an Indiana Deputy Attorney General since February 2001, and was named Indiana’s first Solicitor General in July, 2005.

A two-time recipient of the National Association of Attorneys General Best Brief Award for excellence in U.S. Supreme Court brief writing, Fisher has argued five times before the High Court, including his successful defense of Indiana’s Voter ID law in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, 553 U.S. 181 (2008). His U.S. Supreme Court practice has also included authorship of dozens of cert-stage and merits-stage amicus curiae briefs on a wide range of issues, including jury impeachment, federal preemption, legislative prayer, public Ten Commandments displays, the traditional definition of marriage, abortion regulation, right to trial by jury, double jeopardy, habeas corpus, and federal taxpayer standing, among many others.

In addition, Fisher has argued dozens of important and high profile cases before both the Indiana Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, including successful defenses of Indiana’s choice scholarship program and its popular telephone privacy laws. Other argued cases have included constitutional defense of abortion regulations, parental rights laws, judicial speech canons, Medicaid statutes, the traditional definition of marriage, state toll road leasing, and public school funding, among many other subjects.

Fisher regularly teaches as an adjunct professor at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he received the Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award in 2015. His classes have included Representing the State, State Constitutional Law, and Appellate Practice and Procedure. He is also a frequent speaker at a variety of continuing legal education forums and public events. Fisher formerly wrote a column on Seventh Circuit practice for the Appellate Advocate, a newsletter published by the Indiana State Bar Association.

Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Fisher worked in private practice in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., and clerked for Judge Michael S. Kanne of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Originally from Remington, Indiana, Fisher resides in Indianapolis with his wife and their four children.