Melissa Blanco Weighs in on Pa. Supreme Court Election Race

In the May 11, 2025 Philadelphia Inquirer article, “Republicans are attempting to boot three Democratic justices from the Pa. Supreme Court — and for the first time, Dems are worried,” Melissa Blanco, an appellate attorney at Obermayer, discussed the practical impact of retention races on the Pennsylvania courts.

Justices Kevin Dougherty, Christine Donohue, and David Wecht are up for retention this November. Though historically an apolitical, low-turnout affair, this year’s races are among Pennsylvania’s most-watched. If justices are not retained, the result is that the seven-member court will be less than full until a special election or appointment can occur.

Blanco, from her perspective as a former judicial law clerk to retired Justice Thomas Saylor, discussed the approach of lawyers to cases decided by a full, seven-member court.  She noted that rulings from a less than full bench – while still precedential — can be viewed by lawyers as weaker than those decided by the full bench.

 “It‘s easy to look at those [old] cases and say, ‘Hey, they shouldn’t have any precedential value’ or ‘They shouldn’t matter as much because only X amount of justices were on it,’” Blanco said. “When you have a full court deciding on something, it‘s a little bit more difficult to say.”

Traditionally, judicial retention races are so overlooked that the justices do not bother to raise money at all. This year, however, all three have individually formed political action committees to fundraise for their retention.

“It puts the justices in such a precarious situation,” Blanco said of the unique nature of apolitical justices running for retention in Pennsylvania. 

Read the full article here.