Abortion, Fairness of 2020 Election Are Issues as Key Swing State of Pennsylvania Chooses New Supreme Court Justice

On November 7, Pennsylvanians will go to the polls to elect a new justice for the state’s supreme court, where any litigation stemming from challenges to the results of the 2024 presidential elections and the state’s policy on abortion rights are likely to be heard.The race is between a Democrat, Judge Daniel McCaffery, and a Republican, Judge Carolyn Tornetta Carluccio, who are running to replace Justice Max Baer, who died in September.With Baer’s death, the state’s highest court went to a four-to-two Democratic majority from a five-to-two Democratic majority. If Judge Carluccio is elected, Democrats will maintain a one-seat majority on the court.The partisan makeup of the court could come into play in 2024, as Pennsylvania has been the site of significant litigation around the state’s elections. Last year, the national GOP went to court to get undated mail-in ballots thrown out and won despite the court’s Democratic majority.Judge Carluccio’s position on the 2020 election, the results of which President Trump challenged in Pennsylvania, have also taken a prominent role in the race.When asked by the Philadelphia Inquirer whether she thought President Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Judge Carluccio initially answered, “I have no idea,” before saying, “I believe he won the election … I should have just been more direct in the beginning,” after seeing the interviewer’s reaction.Judge Carluccio has also attracted attention from Planned Parenthood’s national political arm for now-removed language on her campaign website saying that she was a defender of “all life under the law.”Judge Carluccio has denied removing anti-abortion language from her website, telling CNHI Pennsylvania newspapers that there was “no scrubbing at all.”“There have been times where I haven’t liked the law. Frankly, there may have been times where I didn’t like the lawyer or the client in front of me,” Judge Carluccio said.“ But if they have the law on their side they’re going to win the case, and that’s how it should be.”Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania have also endorsed Judge Carluccio. Yet, she has walked back her anti-abortion position, saying the issue is settled in Pennsylvania.While Judge Carluccio maintains that the issue is legally settled in Pennsylvania, there is a push among Republican legislators in the state to have voters consider a ballot measure on the issue in 2024.If passed, the measure would enshrine into state law that the state constitution does not guarantee Pennsylvanians the right to an abortion, which could potentially open the issue up for interpretation at the state supreme court.In the minds of abortion rights groups, the issue is still very much alive in Pennsylvania, with Judge McCaffery receiving the second ever judicial endorsement from Reproductive Freedom for All, the group formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America.“State courts are the front line in the fight for reproductive freedom, and it’s critical that we elect fair-minded judges who value our fundamental rights,” the group’s president, Mini Timmaraju, said in her endorsement. “Our more than 159,000 members in the Commonwealth are ready to mobilize to elect Judge McCaffery.”Judge Carluccio has received support from a powerful ally of her own, the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, which has launched a by-mail ad campaign attacking Judge McCaffery for being a Democrat and a years-old scandal after his brother, who was also a judge at the time, sent him an email containing lewd content.So far, Judge McCaffery’s campaign has raised nearly $2 million, maintaining a significant fundraising advantage over Judge Carluccio, who has raised more than $1.2 million.While the election this year might not be able to change the majority on the court by itself, there will be three seats up for election on the high court in 2025.Justices on the Pennsylvania supreme court serve 10-year terms, meaning if Republicans win in 2023 and win at least one seat in 2025, they will hold a majority when the state is due to redraw its district maps again in 2030.

Abortion, Fairness of 2020 Election Are Issues as Key Swing State of Pennsylvania Chooses New Supreme Court Justice

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