Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — In an interview with the Times Leader Friday, state Supreme Court candidate Kevin Dougherty bemoaned what he described as widespread public misunderstandings about about the court’s role in Pennsylvania’s justice system, emphasizing the need for a transparency and fairness in the state’s highest judicial body.
“More people can name the candidates for president (of the United States) in an election next year than can name the candidates for the (state) Supreme Court in an election in 18 days,” Dougherty said, pointing out that many of the decisions made by the courts will ultimately decide the appellants’ freedom or, in capital cases, their lives.
Dougherty is one of three Democrats vying for a seat on the bench, which has three vacancies slated to be filled in the November election. He downplayed the single-party endorsements of the candidates, saying being a justice should not be a political position.
“We’re public servants,” he said.
The Supreme Court serves as both the state’s highest appellate court, hearing criminal and civil cases appealed from Superior Court and Commonwealth Court, as well as writing the rules of jurisprudence for state courts. The court is also responsible for appointing half of the members of both the Judicial Conduct Board and the Court of Judicial Discipline.
The justices are each elected for a 10-year term and earn an annual salary of $203,409, according to the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters.
A Philadelphia native who grew up in a “blue-collar, ethnic neighborhood,” Dougherty serves as the administrative judge of the city’s Court of Common Pleas’ trial division, a post he assumed after roughly a decade heading the family court in what he described as “the poorest big city in America.”
“When I was there, I saw what happens to people when they’re in a socioeconomic class where they can’t afford representation,” Dougherty said, explaining the experience made him a better listener. “Really, in family court, I truly believe you have the ability to indelibly touch not just the family but generations there after.”
He said one of his greatest hopes if elected is to expand Philadelphia’s veterans court program statewide, hopefully making more veterans facing certain felony charges eligible for its diversion services.
Dougherty said the court’s role in choosing members of the Judicial Conduct Board, tasked with investigating misconduct like that which led to the 2013 criminal conviction of Justice Joan Orie Melvin and the 2014 resignation of Justice Seamus P. McCaffery, requires decision-making skills of the “highest ethical standard.”
Melvin was convicted of felony corruption charges after a jury found she had used state employees for campaign purposes, while McCaffery resigned after he was found to have sent pornographic emails using his work account. Melvin’s conviction and McCaffery’s resignation created two of the court’s three vacancies, the third resulting from the forced retirement, at age 70, of former Chief Justice Ronald Castille.
The Associated Press has reported a Pittsburgh law firm has been hired by the court to investigate allegations that current Justice Michael Eakins also sent or forwarded inappropriate emails.
The court had previously ruled in the case of Mark Bruno, a district judge indicted on federal conspiracy and wire fraud charges in 2013, that it held its own supervisory authority over sitting jurists separate from that vested in the Judicial Conduct Board and the Court of Judicial Discipline.
Asked about the court’s potential role in investigating and disciplining sitting judges, Dougherty chose his words carefully. “That’s a situation that’s going to require these new justices to engage in thoughtful debate and deliberation,” he said. State law prohibits judicial candidates from commenting on pending matters before the court.
Dougherty will face off in November against fellow Democrats Christine Donahue and David Wecht, both sitting Superior Court judges, and Republicans Anne Covey, Judy Olson and Mike George. Olson is a sitting Superior Court judge, while George sits on the Adams County Court of Common Pleas and Covey on the state’s Commonwealth Court.