After a painful presidential election and numerous battles for control of Congress and state legislatures, one might have thought that 2025 would at least be largely free of intense partisan contests.
Don’t get your hopes up.
Pennsylvania voters will decide next year whether three sitting state Supreme Court justices will remain on the bench for another 10-year term. These Remain votes typically get little attention, but observers say they could turn into yet another partisan battleground.
“We want to build on the momentum we’ve created in Pennsylvania,” said Scott Pressler, who heads the Republican voter registration and vote collection group Early Vote Action. Donald Trump’s victory in the state “shows we are winners,” he said. “Nationally, we’re going to see Republicans become more involved in state (Supreme Court) races.”
The three justices up for retention next year, Christine Donahue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht, helped sway the court toward Democrats a decade ago. Democrats currently hold a 5-2 advantage on the court, so if all three parties reject the bill, Republicans could have the upper hand.
“My ultimate goal is to have Pennsylvania voters elect three Republican judges,” Pressler said, adding that ongoing voter registration efforts are helping chip away at the edge of Democratic registration. He said that
Democrats say they are preparing for a fight.
Mitch Cates, executive director of the state Democratic Party, said: “We are confident that the Remain fight will receive significant attention in next year’s election.” On the Republican side, he said, “I can imagine they would create a boogeyman and do something terrible like that. They’ll say it’s a bipartisan court, but this court gives the fairest decisions.” I did,” he said.
Deborah Gross, who heads the judicial education group Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, said she has already heard about conservatives’ plans to attack the three justices. Although the organization is generally skeptical of choosing judges by popular vote, Gross said the current court is “pretty solid.” …They really do a good job of taking the politics out and focusing on the issues. ”
Only one Pennsylvania judge failed to vote for bail. In 2005, Democrat Russell Nigro fell victim to voter anger over a congressional pay increase that was upheld by the courts despite challenges. And since 2015, the state’s Supreme Court elections have been conducted with relatively little rancor. Republicans Sally Mundy and Keith Brobson were elected in 2017 and 2021, respectively. Democrat Daniel McCaffery joined them after winning last year’s election.
But in recent years, Supreme Court elections have garnered national attention and led to huge spending, particularly in battleground states such as Wisconsin and North Carolina.
After all, a small number of justices can have a huge impact on many important issues. Elizabeth Stelle, policy director at the conservative Commonwealth Foundation, said courts have a big role to play on issues such as national efforts to limit greenhouse gases.
“This issue is kind of a litmus test for voters because people are looking to see where the justices land on this question of, ‘How far should the government go in terms of manipulating and intervening in the economy?’ “It’s very helpful,” Stelle said.
Conservatives have a number of complaints about recent court decisions, including those upholding COVID-19 business restrictions opposed by Republicans and encouraging home health aides to unionize. This includes rulings that uphold presidential orders.
And the stakes will only get higher in 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court removes federal protections for abortion rights and leaves the issue in the hands of states. Groups such as Planned Parenthood Advocacy argue that new threats to abortion rights will encourage voters to retain the three Democratic justices.
“We need to thoroughly elect our supporters to the polls to ensure that abortion is protected in Pennsylvania,” said Signe Espinoza, who heads the group’s Pennsylvania chapter.
This year’s abortion referendums in Maryland, Arizona, and Colorado proved that voters across the country still support reproductive rights protections. And while Pennsylvania is currently led by a Democratic governor who supports abortion rights, things could change, with the state Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, although not conclusive, that The ruling strongly suggests that permanent legal protection be maintained. .
Adam Garber, executive director of the gun reform group CeaseFirePA, said the group doesn’t take a position on detention, but that “judges will evaluate and actually empower communities to keep their loved ones safe.” “Their presence will be extremely important.”
A Democratic majority on the court does not guarantee that causes like Mr. Gerber’s will prevail. Courts have recently dealt blows to local efforts to regulate firearms, and rulings on mail-in voting procedures have sometimes offended people on the left. When some county election officials decided this fall to count ballots with incorrectly dated envelopes, Republicans, including Scott Pressler himself, condemned the move before the state Supreme Court. The decision was cited.
But Pressler still appears intent on ousting the judge in question. “The biggest hurdle is educating people about the importance of these Supreme Court elections and getting people to stay active and vote every year,” he said.
Cates, the state Democrat, acknowledged that Democrats and their allies “won’t get all the rulings they want, but that’s what a fair and balanced court looks like.”
He praised the court for reviving a legislative effort to overhaul state funding for public schools and for issuing a ruling that essentially rewrites the rules that draw congressional boundaries. Kates said the decision “put an end to gerrymandering in Pennsylvania,” and that the U.S. House of Representatives’ Pennsylvania delegation went from a lopsided 13-5 Republican majority to a 9-9 vote. It turned into an even split of 9.
Back in 2015, especially in Philadelphia, huge sums of money went to labor unions and trial lawyer groups, and Democratic groups rallied behind judicial positions.
Cates said such groups are likely to re-emerge. But the fight to remain could also attract conservative activists like Mr. Pressler and perhaps even funders like Pennsylvania hedge fund billionaire Jeff Yass.
Either way, Cates said, “It’s going to be a high-stakes election cycle.”
