Senior’s guide to making sense of Pennsylvania judicial elections

With the primary elections coming up in a few days, Pennsylvania seniors will be casting votes for several tiers of judges. Depending on the county where you live, you will be voting for one or more judges in both the lower and appellate courts.

A significant problem with voting in Pennsylvania is that we face the baffling task of voting for judges we know nothing about. Do they spend time to hear all the witnesses, or do they make up their mind in advance? Do they treat all parties with dignity, or do their rulings show bias? The decision of one judge may alter someone’s life forever, yet we know little about the person we vote for to make those decisions.

Most lower court hearings take place behind closed doors. Although Pennsylvania courtrooms are open to the public, few actually spend a day at the courthouse watching their government in action. There was an experiment to televise hearings in our local federal courts from 2011 to 2015 for civil cases only, and the results were poor. Witnesses and jurors stated the practice was intimidating, and so it was discontinued.

It is true that Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court hearings are broadcast on some cable TV stations and real-time on the court's YouTube channels. In these cases, only attorneys and judges appear. That is definitely a step in the right direction.

Although an attorney, I am in no better position than anyone else. I do most of my work in a county other than the county where I reside. Although I might be more qualified to measure the competency of the judges where I work, I may only vote for the judges in the county where I live.

With all of its flaws, however, the Pennsylvania system where we elect judges is in my opinion, superior, to the arrangement where judges hold office for life. The latter opens the possibility that a judge may become isolated and render outlandish decisions that affect the lives of other people. At least under the Pennsylvania system, there is an opportunity to “unselect” unqualified jurists. It does not happen very often, but the need for reelection serves as a safeguard to our rights under the law.

Several Internet sites have been designed to rate judges. The most recent one, operated by a group of attorneys who practice in federal courts, is:

www.therobingroom.com

In fairness, in my experience, most judges are exceptional. The problem is that we vote for people we have never seen nor met. If you have ever had an experience in a Pennsylvania courtroom, I encourage you to write about that experience at the website above. Or, you may share your experiences, or make suggestions on how to improve our current scheme, by commenting below.

tags: law, community resources