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Summary of Constitutional Amendment for Merit Selection of Appellate Judges

Senate Bill No. 860 & Senate Bill No. 861 : Senators Jane M. Earll and Daylin Leach

House Bill No. 1621 & House Bill No. 1619: Reps. Matthew Smith and Will Gabig

• Purpose: To replace the current process of electing appellate court judges with a new process that combines elements of elective and appointive systems: using a nomination process with a retention election component, and adding the unique element of an independent nominating commission to evaluate candidates and recommend the most qualified for possible nomination.
• Vehicles: An amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution is required to change the process by which we select justices and judges for the Pennsylvania Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth Courts. Implementation legislation is being recommended for the details of the process.
• Procedure: The Governor shall nominate judges to be confirmed by the Senate from a list of candidates recommended by the Appellate Court Nominating Commission. Judges will serve initial terms of 4 years followed by retention elections for full ten year terms. (Currently, retention elections are held every ten years after the initial election.)
• Structure: The Appellate Court Nominating Commission will consist of 14 members: 4 appointed by the Governor, 4 appointed by the General Assembly (one by each of the legislative leaders) and 6 public members.
  • The Governor cannot appoint more than two members of any political party and all 4 appointees must be from different counties. Two appointees will be lawyers and two will be non-lawyers. None of the Governor’s appointees can be relatives or members of the Governor’s staff.
  • Each of the legislative appointees must be lawyers; none of them can be members of the General Assembly or their staff or related to any member of the General Assembly.
  • One public member will be a dean of a Pennsylvania law school, chosen by the deans of all Pennsylvania law schools.
  • The other public members will be selected from nominations made by civic organizations, unions, business organizations, nonlawyer professional associations and public safety organizations. The Secretary of the Commonwealth will draw names of Commission members by lot from the nominations made by the 5 organizations with the highest numbers of Pennsylvania residents. Upon the expiration of a public member’s term, the same process will be used to choose a successor.
  • The Commission members choose their own chair.

• Qualifications of Commission Members
  • A member must be a resident of the Commonwealth for at least 1 year prior to appointment & must be at least 18 years of age.
  • A member may not be a party official or a public official, except that a part-time solicitor to a local municipality or school district may be a member.
  • A member may not be a judge.
  • A member may not be a lobbyist.
  • Those involved in appointing members of the Commission should ensure that the Commission includes men and women as well as individuals who represent racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds and who reflect the geographic diversity of Pennsylvania.

• Terms of Office
  • Terms of members shall be 4 years.
  • Members will not be permitted to serve back-to-back terms.
  • A member may only be removed by a majority vote of the remaining members and then only as a result of the violation of the Commission’s rules or because the member no longer meets the requirements to be a member of the Commission.

• Qualifications for Service on the Appellate Courts
  • Only individuals who are licensed members of the Pennsylvania bar in good standing, have spent at least 10 years practicing law, serving as a judge or engaged in some other law-related occupation may be deemed qualified to serve on the appellate courts.
  • To be qualified to serve, individuals must also have demonstrated integrity, judicial temperament, professional competence and commitment to the community.
  • Commission members will evaluate applicants and, following interviews and the opportunity for public comment about candidates, forward a list of five recommended individuals to the Governor. The Commission should ensure that the list should include both men and women who come from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds and who reflect the geographic diversity of Pennsylvania.
  • The list provided to the Governor will be made public.

• Nomination by the Governor
  • The Governor shall nominate a candidate for the appellate court vacancy from the list provided by the Commission.
  • The Governor may not request additional lists from the Commission, nor may the Governor request that certain names be added to the list.

• Senate confirmation
  • The Governor’s nominee will require the advice and consent of a majority of the Senate.
  • The Senate will act on each nominee within 15 legislative days or the appointment will be made final.
  • If the Senate rejects a total of 3 nominations, the Commission will make a final appointment without the involvement of the Governor or the Senate.

• Miscellaneous
  • Department of State will lend administrative support to the Commission.
  • Commission members will serve without compensation, but will be reimbursed for expenses.

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