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July 2nd , 2023 Political Note #571 Dan McCaffrey Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice
2024 General Election
Here is one more important 2023 election; one more State Supreme Court election. After the election in November, 2023, Democrats will still have a majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. A 5-2 majority is, nevertheless, quite different from a 4-3 majority.
The seven member Pennsylvania Supreme Court currently has four Democrats and two Republicans. The vacancy came about because Max Baer, the former chief justice, died on September 30, 2022 at the age of 74. Highly regarded, his initial election to the Supreme Court was close. He was elected to the Supreme Court in 2003 by a margin of 51.9 – 48.1.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices have ten-year terms, but only require a retention vote after being elected in a partisan election. Justice Baer was retained in office in 2013 with 70.1% of the vote.
Like every state supreme court, Pennsylvania’s has crucial issues to consider – among them whether their state constitution mandates non-gerrymandered Congressional and state legislative districts and whether their state constitution allows or prohibits statutes regarding abortion. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has already taken redistricting in hand, creating new federal and state legislative districts. It will have work to do on the abortion issues.
The Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court is Dan McCaffrey. A judge in Pennsylvania’s intermediate appellate court, he was chosen via a state-wide primary, defeating Deborah Kunselman 58.6 – 41.4, who also served on the appellate court. One interesting difference is that, when asked about political offices held, Kunselman said none. Dan McCaffrey was more realistic about his service in Pennsylvania’s judicial offices. He reported that he had been elected to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas in 2013 and had been elected to the Pennsylvania Superior Court in 2019.
Son of a printer and union organizer and a school district custodian/matron, Dan McCaffrey is a graduate of Temple University, from which he also earned his JD. First, at age 18, he joined the army. While in the army, he was selected for the West Point Prep School. Instead of attending the Military Academy, he continued on to Temple with a military scholarship.
In 1991, after law school, Dan McCaffrey served as an assistant district attorney. In 1997, he joined the Montgomery County firm of Jaffe, Friedman, Schuman, Nemeroff, and Applebaum, becoming a partner in 2000. He spent 16 years as a litigator in the firm although he occasionally had other thoughts. He ran for district attorney in 2009 and lost. He put a toe in the race for state attorney general before his 2013 election to the Court of Common Pleas.
In his campaign website, Dan McCaffrey touts his work ethic. He undoubtedly worked hard. He took on very large caseloads as an assistant district attorney, in private practice, and in the Court of Common Pleas. He also touts his experience as the youngest of an immigrant Belfast, Ireland family who grew up in northeast Philadelphia. Others note that his older brother Seamus, who had been a Justice of the Supreme Court, had resigned from the Court after being accused of misconduct. He had sent and received pornographic emails and allowed his wife/chief legal clerk to collect private referral fees. No one has raised questions about Dan McCaffrey’s integrity. Not in the past and not, so far, in the 2023 campaign for the Supreme Court.
Dan McCaffrey himself says: “Democratic institutions including the judiciary are under duress. These attacks undermined the confidence of the American public in our courts. If elected, my priority will be to approach every case in a non-partisan manner. I will use my best efforts to restore faith in the judicial branch of government.”
Dan McCaffrey will be opposed by Carolyn Tornetta Carluccio. Born and raised in Montgomery County, proud of her Italian and her Irish heritage, she has a BA from Dickenson College in Carlisle and a JD from Widener University in Chester. Out of law school, she worked as a public defender for Montgomery County and then as an assistant US Attorney. She was elected to the Court of Common Pleas in 2009.
Fox News reports that the principal issues in the Supreme Court campaign will be election fraud and mail-in voting. Both issues were raised by Republicans as Donald Trump questioned Joe Biden’s majority in the Pennsylvania election. Carolyn Carluccio has called the mail in voting law “bad” for the state and for faith in elections. Carluccio’s primary win over Patricia McCullough, a “Stop the Steal, MAGA Republican, was relatively narrow: 53.5 – 46.5.
There are things to worry about. MAGA Republicanism is pervasive among Pennsylvania’s Republicans. If the primary vote is an indicator, enthusiasm and the number of voters for this race was greater among Republicans than Democrats. Do not ignore elections for State Supreme Courts. Do not ignore this race. Help Dan McCaffrey get elected as a Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Several States will have Supreme Court elections in 2024. If you consider only the states with partisan elections, there are still a bunch:
Alabama 5 of the 9 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Illinois 2 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Louisiana 1 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
North Carolina 1 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Ohio 3 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Texas 6 of the 9 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Non-partisan State Supreme Court elections are often thinly veiled versions of partisan elections. The following states of non-partisan Supreme Court elections in 2024.
Arkansas 2 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Georgia 4 of the 9 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Idaho 1 of the 5 State Supreme Court seats is up for election
Kentucky 1 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats is up for election
Michigan 2 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Minnesota 4 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Mississippi 4 of the 9 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Montana 2 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Nevada 3 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Oregon 5 of the 7 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
Washington 3 of the 9 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
West Virginia 2 of the 5 State Supreme Court seats are up for election
