Litigation

PA Study: In Many Cases, Donors Appeared in Court

By Peter Hardin

A new study sheds light on the great frequency with which campaign donors appear before Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices whose campaigns they backed, according to our friends at Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts.

The American Judicature Society did research in support of PMC’s efforts for judicial selection reform and reported that in 2008-2009, more than two-thirds of the civil cases decided by the state’s highest court included a litigant, lawyer or law firm who had donated to the campaign of a least one of the elected justices.

“The high price-tag of judicial elections should worry Pennsylvanians,” said PMC Executive Director Lynn A. Marks.  “But what is of even greater concern is the source of this money. Judicial candidates receive donations from individuals, lawyers, businesses, unions and other entities that may later appear before them in court.”

During the time of the study, six of the seven Pennsylvania justices had won their seats in contested elections. The seventh was appointed to fill an interim vacancy. (Picture of state Supreme Court is above.)

Research from the AJS study, which was summarized in a Judicature article, showed a major overlap between campaign contributors during the period and a list of those appearing before the court:

• In two-thirds of the cases, at least one of the litigants, lawyers or law firms gave money to the election campaign of at least one justice.
• In 46 percent–nearly half–of the cases, a single litigant, lawyer, or law firm gave to at least four of the six elected justices’ election campaigns.

The research did not try to determine whether campaign donations had influenced judicial decisions.

“But it does suggest that citizens and litigants may have reason to question the fairness and impartiality of the court?s decisions based on the frequency with which contributors to the justices? election campaigns later appear before them,” Malia Reddick and James R. Debuse wrote in the Judicature article.

Both PMC and AJS are partners of Justice at Stake. PMC is pushing for merit selection of appellate court judges in Pennsylvania. In last year’s state Supreme Court race, two candidates raised and spent more than almost $4.7 million, making it the nation’s most costly judicial election in 2009. Learn more about the Pennsylvania debate in Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 09, 2010 (boomark / email).