2 Democrats, 2 Republicans seek nomination for open Pa. Supreme Court seat
HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA) — This year, Pennsylvania voters will elect a state Supreme Court justice to replace the late Chief Justice Max Baer.
Four candidates – two Democrats and two Republicans – are running for their party's nomination in the May 16 primary.
KDKA-TV political editor Jon Delano takes a look at the candidates.
The seven-member Pennsylvania Supreme Court is often asked to decide controversial questions from election law to reproductive rights to mask mandates to environmental protections. So it really does matter who is elected to the state's highest court.
"The Supreme Court hears the most impactful and significant cases facing the commonwealth," says Superior Court Judge Deborah Kunselman, one of two Democrats seeking the high court nomination.
"Our mission is really to serve our fellow citizens at moments when they are most vulnerable, which is in a courtroom," adds Superior Court Judge Daniel McCaffery, the other Democratic candidate.
McCaffery served on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas before being elected to the state Superior Court in 2019, while Kunselman, who grew up in Brentwood, served on the Beaver County Common Pleas Court before her election to the Superior Court in 2017.
Both praise each other, but note differences.
"I have almost twice the judicial experience that he has. I served for 12 years on the trial court; he served for 6. I have served 6 years on the appeals court. This is his fourth," says Kunselman.
"I've spent my entire career defending, protecting, preserving the Constitution and the laws of our commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I've served my country in the United States Army. I bring a completely different lived experience from my colleague," says McCaffery.
Judicial candidates are supposed to be careful about expressing views on potential cases, but KDKA-TV pressed both on their position on abortion and reproductive rights.
"I have raised two strong independent fierce women, and I trust my daughters to make their own decisions, their best decisions for their own reproductive rights, and I don't think it's incumbent upon me to interject my opinion," says McCaffery.
"I don't want to say how I would potentially rule on a case, but I can tell you that I am supportive of a woman's right to choose," says Kunselman. "So it is a very important right, and something that every supreme court of every state will have to deal with at some point."
While Democrats choose between two Superior Court judges, Republicans will choose either Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough of Allegheny County or Montgomery County Common Pleas President Judge Carolyn Carluccio.
Carluccio says it's her breadth of experience that counts.
"I can serve the full 10-year term. That's the first thing. The second thing is I have never lost a race and I'm ready to win in the fall. And that's really important," says Carluccio. "The third thing is I have a much broader base of experience, meaning I was a prosecutor. I was a chief public defender. I was a chief deputy solicitor for our county."
But McCullough says, unlike Carluccio, she's a statewide appellate judge who has already dealt with issues like voting rights.
"One is experience -- someone you know already has the experience of working on these kinds of critical constitutional issues, someone who has already had the courage and conviction to uphold the Constitution, to protect their constitutional rights no matter the cost," says McCullough.
McCullough ordered the state to stop certifying election results after the 2020 election, an order the Supreme Court reversed.
She says we are in a constitutional crisis.
"Why do I say we're in a crisis? Well, I'm one of the judges, maybe the only one right now who's running who's walked a bright red line, and I mean a bright red constitutional line. I uphold the law as written, and I uphold the constitution, the rights of the people," says McCullough.
Carluccio says she was encouraged to run because she would bring prosecutorial experience to the high court as well as some balance.
"I think I can bring something really special to that court that is missing. I think I can bring balance to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court," says Carluccio.
"My prosecutorial background – I think there might be one justice right now that maybe worked in a prosecutor's office for 18 months – so I certainly bring that breath of fresh air and perspective, and that's an important thing to bring to the court," says Carluccio.
Both Democratic and Republican voters will choose their Supreme Court nominee in the primary on May 16th.
