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State Supreme Court - History

State Judiciary DETAILS

Parents

> United States > Pennsylvania

Raw Vote Total:

Percentages:

Website

http://www.courts.state.pa.us/Index/Supreme/indexSupreme.asp

Established

May 22, 1722

Disbanded

Still Active

Last Modified

RP November 04, 2015 02:46pm

Description

The Pennsylvania Supreme court consists of 7 justices each elected to ten year terms.
Supreme court judicial candidates may run on party tickets. The justice with the longest
continuous service on the supreme court automatically becomes Chief Justice.

After the ten year term expires, a statewide YES/NO vote for retention is conducted. If the
judge is retained, he/she serves another ten year term. If the judge is not retained, the
governor, subject to the approval of the State Senate, appoints a temporary replacement
until a special election can be held. As of 2005, only one judge has failed to win retention.
Justice Russell Nigro received a majority of "NO" votes in the election of 2005 and was
replaced by Justice Cynthia Baldwin, who was appointed by Governor Rendell in 2005.

One Supreme Court Justice, Rolf Larsen, has been removed from office by impeachment.
In 1994, the State House of Representatives handed down articles of impeachment
consisting of seven counts of misconduct. A majority of the State Senate voted against
Larsen in five of the seven counts but only one charge garnered the two-thirds majority
needed to convict.

Until the Pennsylvania state constitution of 1968, Supreme Court justices were elected
to 21 year terms. At the time, it was the longest term of any elected office in the U.S.

RACES

Date

Type

Results [Don't Show Primaries]

Nov 03, 2015

Control Indicator

Democratic Party Control
5
71.43%

Republican Party Control(I)
2
28.57%

Mar 25, 2013

Control Indicator

Republican Party Control(I)
3
42.86%

Democratic Party Control
3
42.86%