Ellwood City's Debra Todd sworn in as first female chief justice of Pennsylvania Supreme Court
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Chief Justice Debra Todd made history on Friday.
Todd was officially installed as the chief justice of Pennsylvania in a ceremony at the William Penn Hotel. Joined by friends, family, colleagues, and elected officials, Todd, an Ellwood City native, upended a centuries-old male tradition.
"Our Supreme Court is over 300 years old, and I am the first woman to serve as chief justice," Todd said. "So it's quite an honor. I feel like it's an accomplishment for me, but more than that it's symbolic for women in the law and little girls everywhere."
In an interview Friday before the ceremony, Todd reflected on the barriers to women in her youth.
"It would not have occurred to little girls my age to aspire to become a lawyer, let alone a judge," she said.
But Todd was lucky to have an encouraging male neighbor who gave her early exposure to law.
"When I was 12 years old, I had the opportunity to work in a law office for a neighbor of ours in Ellwood City, attorney Jim Keller, and I was his file clerk," Todd said.
From file clerk to the chief justice, Todd now presides over a seven-member court, the highest court in the state.
"What happens when you become chief justice, however, is you get more authority with respect to the administration of our unified judicial system," she said. "And that's a big system here in Pennsylvania. Sixty-seven counties, 60 judicial districts, and I guess the buck stops here."
She hopes she is judged on her hard work, but she does worry about the perception that the state Supreme Court is politically partisan.
"If I could send one message out as chief justice of Pennsylvania, I would send it out loud and clear that we are not Democrat justices and Republican justices," Todd said. "We are justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. We take that oath very seriously."
In Pennsylvania, the chief justice is the justice with the greatest seniority, and that was Todd after the late Chief Justice Max Baer. But because of her relative youth, Todd could serve a decade in this position, something few of her predecessors have ever done.