Category: Pa Courts

Pennsylvania Ballots In Undated Envelopes To Be Uncounted Says Supreme Court

Pennsylvania Ballots In Undated Envelopes To Be Uncounted Says Supreme Court –The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has just (Nov. 1) ordered all county boards of elections to refrain from counting any absentee and mail-in ballots received for the November 8, 2022 general election that are contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes.

The court was split 3-3 with Kevin Dougherty, Sallie Updyke Mundy and Kevin Brobson saying not counting the ballots did not violate federal law and Chief Justice Debra Todd, Christine Donohue and David Wecht saying it did.

There is a vacancy due to the Sept. 30 death of Chief Justice Max Baer.

Brobson and Ms. Mundy are the only justices elected as Republicans.

Ballots contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes were ordered to be segregated and preserved.

The suit was filed by the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania along with citizens David Ball, James D. Bee, Jesse D. Daniel, Gwendolyn Mae Deluca, Ross M. Farber, Lynn Marie Kalcevic, Vallerie Siciliano-Biancaniello, and S. Michael Streib.

The court dismissed the citizens for lack of standing.

The decision can be read here:

https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-85-2022pco%20-%20105327594202667240.pdf?cb=1

Pennsylvania Ballots In Undated Envelopes To Be Uncounted
Pennsylvania Ballots In Undated Envelopes To Be Uncounted Says Supreme Court

Supreme Spending In Pa For Court’s 300th Birthday Bash

Supreme Spending In Pa For Court’s 300th Birthday Bash — Pennsylvania’s not so supreme court celebrated its 300th birthday in May in Philadelphia with a party that cost the state’s hard-pressed taxpayers $147,000.

Democrats gonna Democrat.

Yes, Pennsylvania’s never-trustworthy highest court is a partisan institution.

It always was a partisan institution, actually, it just that now it’s a Democrat one.

 The multi-day bash included catered luncheons and dinners as per Brad Bumsted of LancasterOnline.

Justices stayed at a swank hotel the name of which was redacted from the records provided LancasterOnline, albeit it showed cost of a night at $400.

There was also a $48,387 banquet

The unredacted parts of the documents released by the court show that the cost of a room, plus parking and taxes, ran as high as $400 per night for Chief Justice Max Baer. Baer could not be reached for comment.

Taxpayers paid $48,387 for a banquet at the Logan Hotel which featured a $1,500 Logan Supreme Court cake”.

Supreme Spending In Pa For Court's 300th Birthday Bash
Supreme Spending In Pa For Court’s 300th Birthday Bash

Pennsylvania Supremes Laugh At Constitution With Mail-In Decision

Pennsylvania Supremes Laugh At Constitution With Mail-In Decision — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, yesterday (Aug. 2), declared that mail-in voting as per Act 77 is allowed under the state Constitution.

The vote was 5-2 with all Democrats voting yes and the Republicans dissenting.

Here’s the wording regarding absentee voting in the State Constitution:

§ 14.  Absentee voting.
        (a)  The Legislature shall, by general law, provide a manner
     in which, and the time and place at which, qualified electors
     who may, on the occurrence of any election, be absent from the
     municipality of their residence, because their duties,
     occupation or business require them to be elsewhere or who, on
     the occurrence of any election, are unable to attend at their
     proper polling places because of illness or physical disability
     or who will not attend a polling place because of the observance
     of a religious holiday or who cannot vote because of election
     day duties, in the case of a county employee, may vote, and for
     the return and canvass of their votes in the election district
     in which they respectively reside.

Either our Supreme Democrats are illiterate or they just don’t care about the rule of law.

The process for amending the Pennsylvania Constitution requires approval in consecutive legislative sessions followed by a referendum. A law like Act 77 doesn’t suffice.

When judges say round is square and black is white and can’t tell the difference between men and women, whitecaps are on the water.

The case decided was Doug McLinko vs Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of State et al. No. J-18A-2022, J-18B-2022, J-18C-2022, J-18D-2022, and J-18E-2022

Hat tip Breitbart.com.

Pennsylvania Supremes Laugh At Constitution With Mail-In Decision
Pennsylvania Supremes Laugh At Constitution With Mail-In Decision

Pennsylvania Constitution Must Reading For Pennsylvania Patriots

Pennsylvania Constitution Must Reading For Pennsylvania Patriots — Delaware County’s Bill Denison has been holding on-line classes regarding the Pennsylvania Constitution and generally promoting the reading of it.

To our embarrassment, reading it was not something we’ve ever done and so a few weeks ago we did.

You’d be surprised at what you find.

Consider Article II concerning the legislature which includes reapportionment:

d)  Any aggrieved person may file an appeal from the final plan directly to the Supreme Court within 30 days after the filing thereof. If the appellant establishes that the final plan is contrary to law, the Supreme Court shall issue an order remanding the plan to the commission and directing the commission to reapportion the Commonwealth in a manner not inconsistent with such order.

(e)  When the Supreme Court has finally decided an appeal or when the last day for filing an appeal has passed with no appeal taken, the reapportionment plan shall have the force of law and the districts therein provided shall be used thereafter in elections to the General Assembly until the next reapportionment as required under this section 17.

When the state Supreme Court ordered that Pennsylvania’s congressional districts be withdrawn in 2018, was that more or less than 30 days after they were approved on Dec. 22, 2011?

Based on the Pennsylvania Constitution, the state legislature should have immediately begun impeachment proceedings for every judge who vote aye for the new districts.

If the citizenry was aware of the what the law was they would have supported the action.

Did you know that there is a specific section regarding absentee voting? 

§ 14.  Absentee voting.
        (a)  The Legislature shall, by general law, provide a manner
     in which, and the time and place at which, qualified electors
     who may, on the occurrence of any election, be absent from the
     municipality of their residence, because their duties,
     occupation or business require them to be elsewhere or who, on
     the occurrence of any election, are unable to attend at their
     proper polling places because of illness or physical disability
     or who will not attend a polling place because of the observance
     of a religious holiday or who cannot vote because of election
     day duties, in the case of a county employee, may vote, and for
     the return and canvass of their votes in the election district
     in which they respectively reside.
        (b)  For purposes of this section, "municipality" means a
     city, borough, incorporated town, township or any similar
     general purpose unit of government which may be created by the
     General Assembly.
     (Nov. 5, 1957, P.L.1019, J.R.1; May 16, 1967, P.L.1048, J.R.5;
     Nov. 5, 1985, P.L.555, J.R.1; Nov. 4, 1997, P.L.636, J.R.3)

        1967 Amendment.  Joint Resolution No.5 renumbered former
     section 14 to present section 11 and amended and renumbered
     former section 19 to present section 14.
        1957 Amendment.  Joint Resolution No.1 added present section
     14 (formerly section 19).

One with knowledge of the words in Constitution would have demanded that the addition of the category of “mail -in elector” would have required amending the Constitution rather than merely changing the Election Code as per Act 77 of 2019.

Where you aware that witnesses in contested elections may not withhold testimony upon the ground that it may criminate himself or subject him to public infamy.

The Constitution is not fun reading but even skimming it and being aware of the table of contents is a significant upgrade in understanding.

You can read it here.

The citizenry of this state better start learning how to be citizens.

Thanks Bill Denison for the inspiration.

Pennsylvania Constitution Must Reading For Pennsylvania Patriots Power And Nuclear Plants

Dem Supremes Back Dominion In Pa

Dem Supremes Back Dominion In Pa — The partisan Democrat Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled four days ago (March 21) in favor of Dominion Voting Systems that neither Fulton County nor the Pennsylvania Senate can audit their machines as they saw fit.

This overturned a Commonwealth Court ruling.

The Supremes said the audit must be done in a specified lab.

This ruling at first glance seems reasonable until it dawns on one that the restrictions will likely lead to a predetermined outcome and they really aren’t necessary to safeguard a false positive.

And that there really isn’t a lab available with the accreditation insisted upon by the court.

What would be a legitimate concern would be if the audit was not transparent and recorded, and unobservable by Dominion and other opponents.

That was obviously not the case.

That Dominion was allowed to be a party is especially troubling. Why would there even be a question that election transparency takes precedence over the intellectual property, or any concerns, of a private corporation.

Those machines should be considered public property. Anybody, much less a government, should be allowed to look at every bell and whistle on the machine, and every percent sign and parenthesis on the software.

When a media consortium investigated the Y2K Florida election, there was no fuss.

That an investigation into Dominion is being inhibited is almost proof positive something is hidden.

So where are the screams of outrage coming from Republican leaders? Why hasn’t Silent Joe Gale said something? Tom McGarrigle? Anybody? Maybe they did. If so they just whispered. That is not good enough.

Dem Supremes Back Dominion In Pa
Dem Supremes Back Dominion In Pa -- The partisan Democrat Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled four days ago (March 21) in favor of Dominion Voting

Promoting Confidence In Pennsylvania Courts With Essay Contest, LOL

Promoting Confidence In Pennsylvania Courts With Essay Contest, LOL —Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts is promoting an essay contest for second and third year law students on the topic of using social media to promote confidence in the workings of Pennsylvania’s judicial branch.

“Under the existing rules of judicial conduct, how might Pennsylvania’s courts utilize current communication tools, such as social media, to engage Pennsylvanians to install confidence in the workings of the judicial branch and its decisions?” says the group.

Winner gets $5,000.

Think we should enter?

Good friend Elaine Mickman, who has had considerable experience with Pennsylvania’s court system, is considering this as a submission:

Top Ten Reasons to NOT have Confidence in the Untrustworthy Judiciary

1. Judiciary operates “Court-Gate” whereby the Courts are “divorced from the law.”

2. The Judiciary accepts “in-kind” gifts and contributions which promotes case and party bias, prejudice, obstruction of impartiality, all amounting to “rigged” and “case-fixing” rather than Ruling by Law.

3. Judiciary does NOT comply with, and is at “war” with the Constitution.

4. Judiciary does NOT comply with and supersedes legislated laws.

5. Judiciary does NOT comply with, nor apply their own adopted Rules.

6. Judiciary does NOT comply with the Judicial Canons.

7. Judiciary is typically NOT held accountable for their misconduct.

8. Judiciary “talks out of 2 sides of their mouth” and does NOT enforce their own orders,  Nor do the lower courts comply with appeal court Opinions or orders.

9. Judiciary regularly denies procedural & substantive due process, and “gate-keeps” court access.

10. Judiciary is typically de-humanizing.

Hey, partisan Democrats pretending to be objective Supreme Court justices in Pennsylvania: Why are you putting the interests of private corporations over election transparency in Fulton County? The “strict protocol” argument is laughable, by the way. If an auditor makes a false claim — even an innocent one — those watching from the other side will easily pick it up and ruin that auditor’s career.

Promoting Confidence In Pennsylvania Courts With Essay Contest, LOL
Promoting Confidence In Pennsylvania Courts With Essay Contest, LOL

Impeachment Try Of Pennsylvania Judge Was Met With Silence

Impeachment Try Of Pennsylvania Judge Was Met With Silence — The deathly silence surrounding a bill sponsored by 34 members of the Pennsylvania House to impeach a Pennsylvania Supreme Court judge is just another example of corrupt state of the media that goes out of its way to keep the public in the dark.

HR1044 was introduced, Oct. 6, 2020, and called for the removal of Justice David N. Wecht. This had nothing to do with the rulings concerning the election which was then a month away, but rather the court’s 2018 usurpation of the well-spelled-out powers of the state legislature concerning the makeup of congressional districts.

Why was Wecht put in the crosshairs rather than all five judges — all Democrats — who voted for it?

Because Wecht made numerous statements criticizing the makeup of the districts prior to the case.

“Everybody in this room should be angry about how gerrymandered we are…Understand, sitting here in the city of Pittsburgh, your vote is diluted. Your power is taken away from you,” he said at a meeting of the League of Women Voters.

That’s a fine thing for a politician to say but a big no no for a judge if he plans on making a ruling on the matter.

The state’s Code of Judicial Conduct is unambiguous: A judge “shall disqualify himself or herself in any proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned” and a judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned when “[t]he judge, while a judge or judicial candidate, has made a public statement, other than in a court proceeding, judicial decision, or opinion, that commits the judge to reach a particular result or rule in a particular way in the proceeding or controversy.”

Wecht knew it.

And dismissed it.

That type of arrogance is grounds enough to impeach him.

But Wecht, of course, was protected by the crony media as he was on the right side of things as they saw it, so the public heard little of the attempt and what little it heard was spun to make Wecht the good guy.

The ruling allowed three districts in the state to flip from R to D and was a significant reason the Democrats won the House in 2018.

Someone might respond that the congressional districts were obscenely gerrymanded before the ruling and that no one likes gerrymandering.

We will point out that the map submitted by the Republicans in response to the court order actually had fewer splits — less gerrymandering — than the one drawn by the court.

And we are certain beyond doubt that the Democrats would not have ruled the way they did if the gerrymandering favored their side.

Pennsylvania’s judiciary is among the most corrupt in the nation. The first step in solving the problem is to call the corruption out.

If you still need your eyes opened check out Lawyers, Judges and Journalists: The Corrupt and the Corruptors by the late Bob Surrick.

Impeachment Try Of Pennsylvania Judge Was Met With Silence
Impeachment Try Of Pennsylvania Judge Was Met With Silence

Judicial Elections Hugely Important In Pennsylvania

Judicial Elections Hugely Important In Pennsylvania, forwarded from Leo Knepper of Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania

By Gina Diorio

While next year’s U.S. Senate race and, to a lesser extent, gubernatorial race are capturing much of the political media’s attention, Pennsylvania has another statewide election in just a few months. On Nov. 2, voters will elect four judges to open seats on our three statewide appellate courts. 

Before moving to Pennsylvania, I lived almost all my life in Jersey, where the governor appoints judges. So when I realized some states elect their judges, I was befuddled. Then, when I learned Pennsylvania elects judges in partisan elections, I was dumbfounded. 

You might be thinking, who cares? Why do these races matter? I’m glad you asked. 

Pennsylvania has three statewide appellate courts: Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court. Superior Court and Commonwealth Court are equal in ‘rank’, so to speak, but hear different types of cases. 

The 15-member Superior Court hears appeals in criminal and most civil cases. And the court’s rulings can have a major impact on individuals, local businesses, and more. 

For example, the Superior Court has ruled on “venue shopping,” the practice of allowing trial lawyers to cherry pick where they bring personal injury cases—regardless of where the alleged injury occurred—based on which court has a history of ordering big payouts. (Hello, Philadelphia.)

The Superior Court has also chimed in on whether workers can sue former employers for illnesses that appear long after they’ve left their jobs (another potential trial lawyers’ dream). 

The 9-member Commonwealth Court, meanwhile, hears cases relating to state and local government.

Last year, when businesses challenged Gov. Wolf COVID orders, some of these cases went to Commonwealth Court. When the League of Women Voters challenged our congressional map back in 2017, that lawsuit began in Commonwealth Court. And when my organization, Commonwealth Partners, challenged our state’s unbalanced budget, we filed the case in Commonwealth Court. 

Of course, our 7-member Supreme Court can overturn or sustain any ruling from the Superior or Commonwealth courts on appeal. However, it  can also take any case directly, regardless of its status in the lower courts. 

We saw this last year when the Supreme Court assumed jurisdiction over whether the General Assembly could terminate Wolf’s emergency disaster declaration without Wolf’s approval. As you’ll recall, the court ruled against the General Assembly—paving the way for the recently passed constitutional amendments reining in a governor’s emergency powers.

The Supreme Court assumed jurisdiction over whether the General Assembly could terminate Wolf’s emergency disaster declaration without Wolf’s approval.

Given that each judge in all three appellate courts is elected, the stakes and costs of judicial elections can quickly mount. 

In 2015, Pennsylvania set a record for the most expensive state judicial races in history to date, at more than $15 million. 

Spending was so high because three seats on our Supreme Court were up for election, and Democrats saw the chance to flip that court and have the final say over all the types of cases mentioned above—plus many more. 

Democrats succeeded, and as a result we’ve seen the court toss our congressional maps, change the voting rules just before last year’s election, and uphold Gov. Wolf’s business shutdown orders, to name just a few things. (For more on harmful Supreme Court rulings since 2015, check out Commonwealth Partners President and CEO Matt Brouillette’s recent op-ed.)

This year, voters will choose one Supreme Court justice, one Superior Court judge, and two Commonwealth Court judges. (In full disclosure, Commonwealth Partners, has endorsed candidates in each race.)

All these seats are currently held by Republicans. Democrats hope to expand their 5-2 majority on the Supreme Court, flip the Superior Court (which currently has an 8-7 Republican majority), and make inroads into the 7-2 Republican majority on the Commonwealth Court. 

Of course, seeking partisan gains for partisan ends is a barrier to an objective judiciary. Instead, we should seek judges who uphold the rule of law. 

So as November approaches, Pennsylvanians would do well to recognize that, despite their lack of excitement, judicial elections are critically important—and vote accordingly.

Gina Diorio is the Public Affairs Director at Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs, an independent, non-partisan, 501(c)(6) membership organization dedicated to improving the economic environment and educational opportunities in Pennsylvania. www.thecommonwealthpartners.com.

Judicial Elections Hugely Important In Pennsylvania
Judicial Elections Hugely Important In Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Court Corruption Would Be Stifled By HB 38

Pennsylvania Court Corruption Would Be Stifled By HB 38

By Rep. Russ Diamond

Pennsylvania is known for its chocolate, its mountains — and its many opportunities for corruption.

In the days leading to my introduction of House Bill 38, I received the usual and expected rebuttals from mainstream journalists and Harrisburg lobbyists. I was accused of inserting gerrymandering into judicial elections and disenfranchising voters, while at the same time lectured about how “merit selection” (involving a 13-person panel) would somehow not disenfranchise them.

I can’t say I am surprised. As an outsider in Harrisburg, you can always expect pushback from special interests and the media who are always in their pocket.

Still, it makes you wonder why on earth every group of lawyers, journalists, and unions are against a bill that would seek to diversify the geographic makeup of our appellate courts. And then you remember the real problem you were seeking to solve in the first place before all of the “critics” descended: corruption.

My bill would not just diversify the gender, demographic, or geographic makeup of our appellate courts. It would also chop at the deep-seated subversion of justice in Pennsylvania.

Corruption is not something we should tolerate or ignore. It’s an embedded weed that has deep roots and has strangled other plant roots underground along the way.

For too long, Pennsylvanians have been given a raw deal by our judicial system and have been the butt of jokes about our public officials. From House speakers to trial court judges to traffic court judges, to Supreme Court judges, the commonwealth has had its fair share of judicial malpractice and public corruption.

The simple fact of the matter is that Philadelphia and Allegheny have been playing by their own rules while people like my constituents in Lebanon County suffer.

Of the most recent seven appellate court judges convicted or accused of serious crimes, four of them were from Allegheny or Philadelphia. Of the 19 judges on the Pennsylvania Superior Court, the court that decided that Speaker Bill DeWeese and Speaker John Perzel do not need to pay fines for their crimes, 12 of them are from Philadelphia or Allegheny.

You see, the current system of statewide elections for appellate court judges breeds a political class exempted from the rule of law.

Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, the major special interest group pushing against my bill, noted in its own April 2017 study that our commonwealth “has not been a stranger to judicial scandals.” The group perceived the ethics of our higher court judges to be of such concern it issued a report in 2011 on the state’s judicial disciplinary system.

But instead of proposing a decentralization of power that could help prevent such corruption from encompassing government, Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts is proposing to move power away from the voters into the hands of a politically savvy merit selection board.

Real reform gives Pennsylvanians a fair shake instead of rigging it for the politically connected.

That’s why every special interest, media outlet, and lawyer lobbyist is against my bill. Unfortunately for them, they won’t dissuade me and other honest legislators. We will fight to get this bill approved so it becomes a ballot question, giving you a voice and opportunity to end corruption in our judicial system.

Rep. Diamond, a Republican, represents the 102nd District in the Pennsylvania House.

Pennsylvania Court Corruption Would Be Stifled By HB 38

(Note: CAP CEO, Leo Knepper had an opportunity to speak with Rep. Diamond about the proposed amendment on February 1, 2021. The video of the interview can be seen below.)

Pennsylvania Court Corruption Would Be Stifled By HB 38

Pennsylvania Constitutional Amendments Considered

Pennsylvania Constitutional Amendments Considered — Leo Knepper of Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania sent us the below discussion of proposed state constitutional amendments. They are aimed at limiting the use of emergency declarations by the governor and replacing state-wide elections of judges to the Supreme, Commonwealth and Superior courts, with election by district. This would weaken the power the corrupt Philadelphia and Pittsburgh machines have over the judiciary.

They are desperately needed as the governor and the state courts behaved more like those of a banana republic in the last year rather than one that respects rights.

Frankly, the entire Constitution should be rewritten.

“Full time” legislators ought to be replaced by part-time ones compensated solely by per diem with a term of no more than 20 days. Legislative districts should no longer be allowed to include a partial county. More than one county, yes. Partial counties no.

Pennsylvania Constitutional Amendments Considered
Pennsylvania Constitutional Amendments Considered
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