The following are the direct links to state court websites:
Arizona Find My Court - Federal and State Court Locator
This page shows the results and political affiliation of the composition of the federal and state courts. It is intended to visually demonstrate that the courts were not "stacked" with all democrats or judges with ideologies that some would describe as liberal. It is intended to show that many judges ruled against Donald Trump, even judges he appointed himself. This page is also intended to give users information on who appointed them and/or elected them.
Additionally, the cases decided before the courts are linked here as well. Some of the 2020 election lawsuits are very complex in the motions and appeals that were filed at the time. A full list can be found on the Election litigation page.
Please also see my disclaimer note on this page. It describes how I associated judges with political affiliation depending on the judge and the court.
| Supreme Court | Superior Court | Commonwealth Court | Court of Common Pleas | Magisterial District Courts | Municipal and Traffic Courts |
| Partisan elections or Retention election - 10 year terms | Partisan elections or Retention election - 10 year terms | Partisan elections or Retention election - 10 year terms | Partisan elections or Retention election - 10 year terms | Partisan elections - Six-year terms | Partisan elections or Retention election - Six-year terms |
Though the state holds partisan elections, most local judicial candidates for courts of common pleas cross-file with the major political parties. If a candidate wins both the Republican and Democratic primary, he or she runs unopposed in the general election. Candidates for the state supreme court and for the two intermediate appellate courts may not file in more than one political party.[1]
All judges except those of the magisterial districts face retention elections following their initial term. After a judge has won an initial partisan election, subsequent terms are attained through retention elections. In retention elections, judges do not compete against another candidate, but voters are given a "yes" or "no" choice whether to keep the justice in office for another term. If the candidate receives more yes votes than no votes, he or she is successfully retained. If not, the candidate is not retained, and there will be a vacancy in that court upon the expiration of that term. This applies to all judges except magisterial district judges, who are always elected in partisan elections.[2][3]
Across the state's appellate and trial courts, there are seven supreme court justices, 15 superior court judges, nine commonwealth court judges, and 439 common pleas judges.
Under the Pennsylvania Constitution, judges' terms begin and end on the first Monday in January following their election.*
The appellate and general jurisdiction courts vary in their selection of the chief justice or judge:
To serve on an appellate or general jurisdiction court, a judge must:
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 judges stand for election at the next municipal election occurring more than 10 months after the vacancy occurred.[1]
By tradition, appointed interim judges of the supreme court, superior court, or court of appeals do not go on to run for permanent seats. In other words, the governor appoints these judges with the expectation that the judge will only fill the interim vacancy.[1]
Limited Jurisdiction Judges
Judges of Pennsylvania's limited jurisdiction courts—the Pennsylvania Magisterial Districts and Philadelphia Municipal Court—are also selected in partisan elections. They serve six-year terms. After their initial term, municipal court judges must run in yes-no retention elections if they wish to remain on the court. Magistrates do not participate in retention elections but may be re-elected to new terms in contested races.[2][8]
The judicial qualifications are largely the same between the courts of limited jurisdiction. A judge must be:
*Traffic judges and magisterial district judges may alternatively pass a training course as a substitute for the bar member requirement.[8]
Divisions of Political Party
For lawsuit outcomes see the litigation chart for related cases.
| Judge | Political Party |
| Christine Donohue | Democrat |
| Max Baer | Democrat |
| David N. Wecht | Democrat |
| Kevin M. Dougherty | Democrat |
| Debra Todd | Democrat |
| Sallie Mundy | Republican |
| Thomas Saylor | Republican |
Each of the Republican-affiliated judges voted against Trump at least one or more times when election lawsuits were appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Visit the Lawsuit Verdicts for a list of 2020 election litigation and The Courts and the 2020 Election for more detailed information about the courts and judges.
| Judge | Political Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Stella M. Tsai | Democrat |
| Christine Fizzano Cannon | Republican |
| James Crumlish | Democrat |
| Mary Hannah Leavitt | Republican |
Visit the Lawsuit Verdicts for a list of 2020 election litigation and The Courts and the 2020 Election for more detailed information about the courts and judges.
A Note About This Page
Determining the political affiliation of a judge can be challenging since most states run nonpartisan elections for selections of their state judges. Federal judges are appointed by the President of the United States, which many assume the political affiliation of the judge is the same as the President's and is not always the case.
On this libguide, I determined the political affiliation of judges through a few criteria measures:
1. They are on record for running in a partisan election.
2. They are on record for donating to a particular political affiliated party group and/or another election campaign.
3. The judge is quoted in a credible and/or primary resource media source they associate with a political ideology as a private citizen.
For several state and federal judges a concrete political party could not be identified by the above criteria therefore for federal judges, I identified them with the political party of the president who nominated them. This is for two reasons:
1. The general public often associates the political affiliation of a judge based on that measurement anyway
2. It is very likely that they lean that way in political ideology.
There were several in my research that literally nothing could be found about their political affiliations and ideologies and were often described by peers as being very independent. In these cases, I labeled them independent for their extensive reputation for balanced, fair, and independent judgments and opinions, and the lack of evidence that they firmly associate with a political party.
NOTE: I am NOT declaring that if a judge is a registered democrat or republican, they cannot make fair and balanced decisions in the courts they preside over. Actually, I am trying to prove the opposite. My whole point in associating judges with a party is to demonstrate that many judges who publically identify as Republican, decided against the Donald Trump campaign in state and federal lawsuits, to further provide evidence that the 2020 Presidential Election was not "rigged" and the courts are not filled with Democrats who dismissed cases so that Biden could "steal the election."
If you should have credible and authoritative evidence that a judge that is mentioned on this libguide is affiliated with the wrong party, please feel free to contact me and send the information. I want to get information correct and welcome corrections.
