Pennsylvania could keep its Democratic high court majority or get partisan deadlock on the bench

By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG Pa AP Pennsylvania voters on Tuesday will decide whether to keep a Democratic majority on the state s highest court the center of pivotal fights over voting rights redistricting and elections or potentially plunge the court into a partisan deadlock in a premier presidential battleground The outcome will affect how the state Supreme Court could again be called on to settle partisan battles over electoral process laws ahead of next year s midterm contests Democratic Supreme Court justices Christine Donohue Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht are running in a retention balloting in which voters are questioned to vote yes or no on whether to give them another term Reelecting any of them would continue the Democratic majority which is at this time - Defeating all three could plunge the bench into a partisan - stalemate for two years if Pennsylvania s politically divided regime were to be unable to agree on temporary appointees to fill in Supreme Court terms are years though age limits can shorten that time on the bench Traditionally a retention campaign is an under-the-radar voting process But on Sunday night President Donald Trump waded into the campaign taking to social media to urge voters to bring back the Rule of Law and stand up for the Constitution and reject three Radical Democrat Supreme Court Justices He reported they had among other things unlawfully gerrymandered your Congressional maps which led to my corrupt Impeachment s Democratic Gov Josh Shapiro responded on social media saying Trump has zero credibility when it comes to the rule of law after he tried to throw out Pennsylvanians votes and overturn the balloting and pardoned the people who assaulted law enforcement in the attack on the U S Capitol on Jan In an era of increasingly polarized judicial elections Republicans mounted a late-emerging campaign to defeat the justices Democrats marshaled a reelection campaign with their allies and received help from Shapiro Christine Donohue a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice running for another term acknowledges applause after speaking to the crowd at a Lancaster County Democratic Party event Oct in Lancaster Pa AP Photo Marc Levy FILE Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty speaks at his swearing in ceremony at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia Jan AP Photo Matt Rourke File FILE Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David N Wecht attends a ceremony at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia Jan AP Photo Matt Rourke File Show Caption of Christine Donohue a Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice running for another term acknowledges applause after speaking to the crowd at a Lancaster County Democratic Party event Oct in Lancaster Pa AP Photo Marc Levy Expand The campaign was on track to cost more than million far more than previous retention elections but nowhere near the million spent earlier this year in Wisconsin a record amount for a state Supreme Court race in which a Democratic-backed candidate defeated a challenger endorsed by Trump Still the stakes in Pennsylvania s ballot are very much the same Democrats have broadcast the justices assistance for abortion rights voting rights and union rights warning that losses could leave the court deadlocked and their precedents in jeopardy If the justices aren t retained the Democratic governor and the Republican-controlled Senate could agree on temporary appointees to fill in until the electoral process to pick successors However the last time there was a vacancy when Justice Max Baer died in it went unfilled until after the vote A deadlock means the court might be unable to settle cases involving voting and electoral process laws through the midterm elections when the governor s office and a handful of contested congressional seats will be on the ballot Lower court decisions could remain in place as a impact Related Articles New York s Jewish district divided anxious as city faces likely first Muslim mayor US elections face safeguard test as DHS cuts local cyber help Justice Department defends Trump s post as it urges judge to reject Comey s effort to dismiss development Republicans seek to tap into Trump power on eve of Poll Day in New Jersey Virginia DNC chair says wins in Virginia and New Jersey would signal blue wave The Republicans campaign targeted Democratic voters telling them in flyers and TV ads to defend Democracy and that years on the court is enough GOP ads also complained about the court s freeing of Bill Cosby in a decision that threw out his sexual assault conviction protect women and children flyers noted and its overturning of a Republican-drawn map of Pennsylvania s congressional districts so only Democrats could win In current years the court has made major decisions around voting and elections necessitated in part by the politically divided and often stalemated state leadership The justices in threw out the GOP congressional map calling it unconstitutionally gerrymandered and four years later again picked new district boundaries after a stalemate in governing body The court also turned away GOP challenges to Pennsylvania s expansive vote-by-mail law a focal point of Republican efforts to overturn Trump s loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the voting process Follow Marc Levy on X at https x com timelywriter