Three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices whose names will be on the ballot this year clapped back against the Republican Party's claims that they make rulings as partisan actors serving the Democratic Party.
“Our personal views, our political views, our religious views, are left on the wayside,” Justice Christine Donohue said, referring to the moment judges take their oaths to serve. “They have absolutely nothing to do with the manner in which we can decide cases.”
Justice Kevin Dougherty, speaking alongside Donohue at a Monday afternoon forum in Philadelphia, noted that the state Constitution required them to run under a political banner when they each won their positions in 2015.
“But the moment we were elected — when we put that black robe on — we hung up that partisan title, and we have watched ourselves accordingly,” he said.
Justice David Wecht, also at the forum, said the judges must “apply the law as we interpret it,” even if it angers the general public.
In the November 4 election, each justice is up for a statewide retention vote — a simple “Yes” or “No” at the end of the ballot that lets Pennsylvanians determine whether the three judges will serve another 10-year term.
The GOP is heavily campaigning to oust the three justices, as the party looks to flip the 5-2 Democratic majority on the court. They are particularly angry about the justices’ rulings in cases upholding public lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and the state’s no-excuse mail-in ballot law.
The party has launched a formal “No” campaign, urging voters to reject the justices. And the Republican State Leadership Committee, under the banner of the “Judicial Fairness Initiative,” has spent at least $40,000 on digital ads appearing on Facebook and Instagram targeting the justices this past month.
“Activist judges locked down our state & fueled election chaos,” one ad read. “They don’t deserve 10 more years.”
Further Republican Party spending on the Supreme Court retention race will be revealed in financial disclosure forms due on Sept. 23.
GOP-affiliated groups have also worked the ground game this year — perhaps most notably conservative activist Scott Presler’s Early Vote Action, which hosts voter outreach tables at public events across the state.
Judges in Pennsylvania seek the office as partisan candidates, but in retention races, they do not run as partisan candidates and are restricted from certain campaign activity, like stating how they would rule in specific cases.
Still, the Democratic Party is already campaigning in the three judges’ defense. Several nonprofit groups and the nonpartisan Pennsylvania Bar Association have also backed the three for retention.
Justices rarely lose retention votes. Only one has failed in Pennsylvania history — Justice Russell Nigro was ousted in 2005 largely due to voter pushback on a late-night pay raise the General Assembly passed benefiting all three branches of state government.
If Donohue, Dougherty and Wecht are not retained, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro can appoint temporary replacements, subject to Senate approval, who would fill the role until the next odd-year election.
‘Seeds that we've sown’
The more than hour-long forum — which multiple political observers noted was a first for a judicial retention election — was hosted at Central High School in west Philadelphia by three organizations working to educate voters about the race and encourage nonpartisanship at the polls: Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, Committee of Seventy and the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania.
Moderator Cherri Gregg of WHYY asked the judges about how they view the role of the judiciary and what their process is for determining their opinion on a case. She also gave them an opportunity to introduce themselves to audiences who may not know much about them.
Dougherty said the independence of the court is a “sacred part” of the Constitution intended to balance the powers of the three branches of government.
And Wecht said their role is to interpret the sometimes “opaque” laws passed by the General Assembly.
Gregg asked what each judge would prioritize if given another term. For Dougherty and Wecht, who said they’d serve without any agenda, a second term would likely be another full ten years.
But Donohue, who is 72 and turns 73 in December, would need to resign once she reaches the constitutionally required retirement age of 75.
Asked why she is seeking another term despite her age, Donohue said, “The question is, ‘Why not?’” Earlier in the forum, she said she hopes to defend the legacy of the court she has served on for the last decade, if given a few more years on the bench.
“I want to be certain that the seeds that we've sown, in terms of extending protections that have always been there but have not been recognized under the Pennsylvania Constitution, continue to be recognized by the court that I sit on,” Donohue said.
The judges’ participation in the forum preceded three days of oral arguments the Supreme Court will hear in Philadelphia this week.
Superior Court Judge Alice Dubow and Commonwealth Court Judge Michael Wojcik, both Democrats, are also up for retention this year. The Superior Court is one of Pennsylvania’s two appellate courts and primarily rules on criminal matters.