May 07 2010
Merit Lives!
Merit selection for Pennsylvania’s appellate judges has been a much debated reform issue for over years. In a recent new conference on the subject, longtime proponent Governor Rendell proclaimed that the switch from electing judges to selecting them via merit selection was long overdue. Legal Intelligencer reporter Leo Strupczewski writes this week that the proposal is finding support from some unlikely sources.
One potential ally—trial lawyers.
Mark Phenicie, legislative counsel for the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, said there are a “significant number” of PAJ members who are in favor of the appointive process.
In fact, the association may revisit a 10-year-old board of governor’s resolution supporting judicial elections this summer, Phenicie said.
Along with the possible creation of new alliances, merit selection may be given a further boost from the negative media attention paid to last year’s fundraising record-breaking Supreme Court election between Justice Joan Orie Melvin and Superior Court judge Jack Panella. At the news conference, Rendell was quick to point out that the race for the high court has been growing more and more costly over the past decade—$2.1 million in 2001 to nearly $4.7 million in 2009. Francis P. Devine III, a partner at Pepper Hamilton and seasoned supporter of merit agreed that this presents “a great opportunity” for change.
Yet for merit to have a shot at success, the current legislation must be voted out of the House Judiciary Committee and onto the House floor. The bill would need to pass in the House before moving to the Senate. PMC’s executive director Lynn Marks and deputy director Shira Goodman are “cautiously optimistic” that there are enough ‘ay’ votes in committee to make this happen.
Backing up their argument for a vote, Marks and Goodman said they welcomed a debate on the issue in the Legislature and that support for merit selection is at its strongest since the days following the Rolf Larsen scandal.
With court-related headlines dominating recent news cycles, the movement has been “gaining momentum steadily,” Goodman said.
Now is the time to push for change.
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