Current CJ, he was supposed to retire soon. Jeez.

Keep the court non nazi

What a life. Tremendous impact he's had on the Commonwealth. Rest in peace.

In case we needed any other reasons to vote in November, our next Governor will likely be the person to propose a new justice.

We vote for these ourselves. There was just one in 2021. A republican won.

From the article:

>Gov. Tom Wolf will now be tasked with appointing a new justice to fill the vacancy on the court, following an application process and approval by the state Senate. However, the state Senate has seven remaining session days scheduled for the remainder of 2022 – and only one in November – meaning it’s likely that the next governor of Pennsylvania will choose who fills the vacancy.

>In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a successor who must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Pennsylvania Senate. Interim justices stand for election at the next municipal election occurring more than 10 months after the vacancy occurred.

From ballotpedia.

Here's the clause in the PA constitution covering this:

Article V, Section 13(b) A vacancy in the office of justice, judge or justice of the peace shall be filled by appointment by the Governor. The appointment shall be with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the members elected to the Senate, except in the case of justices of the peace which shall be by a majority. The person so appointed shall serve for a term ending on the first Monday of January following the next municipal election more than ten months after the vacancy occurs or for the remainder of the unexpired term whichever is less, except in the case of persons selected as additional judges to the Superior Court, where the General Assembly may stagger and fix the length of the initial terms of such additional judges by reference to any of the first, second and third municipal elections more than ten months after the additional judges are selected. The manner by which any additional judges are selected shall be provided by this section for the filling of vacancies in judicial offices.

Rip

That'll be Shapiro

I freaking hope so.

Out of curiosity how many days do these elected officials meet in a year?

So if Sharpiro wins, it’ll be someone moderate and non partisan to please both him and the republican assembly. Otherwise he’ll just be a right wing lap dog if Mastriano appoints him and the assembly rushes him through

Thank God

The importance of this election just got turned up a notch.

Is it just me or did the article not mention a single case he presided over or a single decision he made?

His seat will be up for election next year (November 2023). For those of you who don't show up to odd year elections, this is a reason to vote.

RIP. Is it wrong that I was wondering before reading the obit if he was related to Jethro Bodine?

He wrote the most recent redistricting decision for starters.

First, check closely for foul play.

Second... when did Jethro become a judge?

House and Senate. Session days are only days when they convene in session in the chamber, it doesn't cover days that are spent doing committee hearings or whatever. PA is one of only 10 states that has a full-time legislature that meets year-round.

Jethro was his son, actually.

:D

The PA legislature is full-time?

Color me surprised.

Will be curious to see if the R-heavy PA legis approves anyone appointed by a Democratic governor.

I bet he got a lot of disappointed reactions from people he’s never met before who were expecting Jethro.

Officially yes.

The full-time/part-time distinction basically just comes down to how many months out of the year you're in session. New Hampshire only meets in January through May, so is part-time. Utah is at the really extreme end of the part-time scale, with one 45-day session per year. PA has ordinary sessions from January through November so gets to be considered full-time.

Incidentally we also have the third highest legislator salaries after California and New York.

New Hampshire makes for a great comparison! They get, what, a hundred bucks a year for their service whereas the PA legislature gets a nearly 9% increase this year on top of the 5% plus increase last year for naming bridges.

Time to www.rollbacktheraises.com

VOTE! We know that Republicans will abuse the courts to subvert the will of the people and pass their extremist bullshit. We need to stop them from putting yet another traitor on the bench.

I mean I think that legislators should definitely be paid more than New Hampshire. You should be able to live off the salary or else it's just asking to open the door to even worse corruption. But PA is definitely also overpaid relative to how little they actually do and they love to give themselves a bullshit raise (remember the literally midnight raise when Rendell was gov)

I thought PA Supreme Courts Judges were voted on directly

>Gov. Tom Wolf will now be tasked with appointing a new justice to fill the vacancy on the court, following an application process and approval by the state Senate. However, the state Senate has seven remaining session days scheduled for the remainder of 2022 – and only one in November – meaning it’s likely that the next governor of Pennsylvania will choose who fills the vacancy.

But that will only be a temporary appointment. The seat will be up for direct election in November 2023.

They get paid far, far,FAR too much for that part-time job.

Oh, dope. Well, in that case

VOTE! (twice, once now to secure the interim justice and then later for a permanent justice who isn't a conservative terrorist)

TL;DR: The governor (most likely, the next governor, as I assume the legislature will refuse to vote on Wolf's nominee) will appoint a justice to serve until January 2024, when the winner of the Nov 2023 election will earn that seat.

In all likelihood, nobody will be appointed.

Not really. His term was already to end on January 1. So, big stakes, but same stakes.

It's possible that they published the minimum to ship the story out the door, and then went back to add detail? There's few paragraphs now about his decisions regarding gerrymandering and mail-in ballots.

That midnight raise can never, ever be forgotten. The Commonwealth Legislature is the most corrupt in the nation.

But, but, but ... They're the "CEOs of the Commonwealth!"/s

Don't hope; vote. And tell everyone else to.

Unfortunately I moved to MD but I'm prodding all my family and friends who are not Rs. Not that they seem to need it. Of course some didn't vote in 2016 or voted Trump 🙄 Tried to get them to vote then...

Debated moving to York so I could vote in PA again.

Vote blue people

Will do. I’m still voting but I lost hope a long time ago.

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He was SUCH a good guy.

Not wrong at all. The article mentioned he didn’t mind being confused with the 1930s boxer, but oddly it didn’t mention the Max Baer who was arguably more well known to living constituents, haha. Hey, PA had Miss Jane. I guess Jethro Bodine would be too much to ask.

So only the rich may take political seats? Getting rid of salaries makes it so only people well enough off to take these positions. Seems stupid to me.

Your position is unsupported by history. Plus, there is no evidence that poor people make better legislators than do rich folks. Take russ-hole diamond for instance. And keep him, please.

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What history? I am dying to know how history shows that non rich people can be legislators with no salary.

Who said anything about no salary?

Another toothpick

/Who said anything about no salary?

You DID! to quote you exactly.
"They get, what, a hundred bucks a year for their service...' That is not a salary. Representation of the people means there should be a diversity of voices.

100 bucks =/= no salary. It's a 100 bucks. Seems to work for NH. Paying 100K seems like overkill. Especially for doing little more than naming bridges and highway sections, and going out for drinks with lobbyists.

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Hope is not a strategy.

Okay $100 is a salary? At minumum wages this is not even a weeks pay.

Your making so many logical falacies and this argument is dead due to you trying to do symantic gymnastics with the legal term salary. You live your life and support your family on $100 a year. $100 is a stipen.

100 is not zero.

Is math difficult for you?

SALARY is what you are paid for work. $100 is a stipen you are just hard headed. I said only rich could represent us if they were not paid a salary. If your paid $100for a year's work your missing the meaning of the word salary and your making any payment to mean salary. Your argument skills are frustrating and not productive to communicate your opinion. The thing your arguing is that it's not a big deal if only rich can afford to be full time representative. Your arguing me about salary a totally side subject and even being foolish with your hammering on about the payment of $100 and salary has anything to do with the central argument that a salary or payment that is equal to a full time job is needed so that ecconomically self-sufficient people aka rich would be the sole people who can govern.

100 is not zero.

Is math difficult for you?

Salary for a year is not $100 so your point is about how non rich people can take these positions is mute.

Logic and debate is hard. Salary as in can you live making $100 a year. Your really bad at this sorry.

You have yet to debate. You simply refuse to believe that 100 =/= zero. Which makes you a what, zero?

PA legislators are paid over 100k to name bridges. On the other hand, NH legislators are paid $100/yr to do things of substance. We should follow the NH model.

Really? If there is no salary only people who are independently wealthy can take those positions. That therefore is not a representation of our country.

That was way up there and you got caught up on only dealing with salary and $100 was the same thing and said I was wrong with history and I said what about history and you then tried to tell me my math skill was stupid because $100 and salary are the same and I stated you suck at debate.

Become familiar with how NH does it. Lots of not-wealthy folks in legislature there.