Control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is on the ballot this year, with three Democratic justices up for retention
Control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is on the ballot this year, with three Democratic justices up for retention elections.
These yes-or-no elections are normally sleepy and almost never result in a justice being forced off the court. But Republican operatives, who have chafed at the Democratic-majority court’s decisions for a decade, say that with a flip within reach, they’re getting ready for an expensive political fight.
Judges on all three of Pennsylvania’s statewide appellate courts — the Supreme, Superior, and Commonwealth Courts — are elected in partisan, statewide elections and serve 10-year terms. The number of terms they can serve is unlimited, though they must retire at age 75.
Judges get successive terms via a retention election. These elections are not partisan, and don’t involve an opposing candidate; voters are simply asked to say yes or no to giving a judge another decade on the bench. If the vote is yes, the judge stays on. If it is no, the governor can appoint a temporary replacement subject to the approval of the state Senate. An election for a replacement to serve a full 10-year term is then held in the next odd year.
https://www.votebeat.org/pennsylvania/2025/02/21/judicial-retention-election-pennsylvania-2025-supreme-court-partisan/