2019 Retention Election
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
 Yes | 1,500,891 | 74.49 |
| No | 513,912 | 25.51 |
| Total votes | 2,014,803 | 100.00 |
| Source:PA Department of State | ||
Anne E. Lazarus | |
|---|---|
| President Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania | |
| Assumed office January 7, 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Jack Panella |
| Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania | |
| Assumed office January 4, 2010 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 12,1952 |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | State University of New York (B.A.) Temple University Beasley School of Law (J.D.) (M.L.) |
Anne E. Lazarus (born November 12,1952) is an American lawyer and jurist who currently serves as the President Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. A member of the Democratic Party,Lazarus was elected to the Superior Court on November 3,2009. [1] She is the first woman from Philadelphia to be elected to any statewide office. [2]
Anne E. Lazarus was born in Brooklyn,New York in 1952,making her the oldest judge on the Superior Court.
Lazarus received her B.A. degree in psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1972. She then received her J.D. and M.L. from the Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1976 and 1986,respectively. [3]
Lazarus served as legal counsel to the Philadelphia Orphans’Court from 1980 to 1991. She practiced law in Philadelphia at Ballard Spahr Andrews &Ingersoll,LLP until she received an appointment by Governor Robert Casey Sr. to Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. She was elected to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas for a full term in 1991,and served until 2010 when she joined the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. [4] [5]
Lazarus has received numerous awards [2] [3] during her tenure;including the Philadelphia Bar Association's Sandra Day O’Connor Award in 2013, [6] [7] [8] and the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Anne X. Alpern Award in 2018. [9]
Lazarus ran for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 2015, [10] but failed during the primary by not achieving a position in the top three candidates. [3]
Lazarus ran for retention to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 2019,and was retained for second ten-year term. Her current term ends January 7,2030. [3]
Lazarus was voted on by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania to serve as the President Judge,which she assumed office for on January 7,2024. The Superior Court was unanimous in their selection of Judge Lazarus as President Judge. [11] [12]
In the case of Commonwealth v. Alexander(2020),Lazarus and two other judges from the Superior Court upheld Markee Davis' conviction. In January 2020,an officer pulled over Davis for recklessly driving and saw a semi-automatic handgun on the floor of the vehicle. Davis was arrested for numerous charges,including possession of a controlled substance. The trial court granted the suppression and exclusion of Davis' statements and the marijuana found in the trunk of the car,but denied suppression of the handgun. The Superior Court upheld Davis' conviction,further ruling that the officer's seize of the firearm was lawful. The court ruled that the commonwealth was not required to prove exigent circumstances when an officer is seizing a firearm in a vehicle under the plain view doctrine. [13] [14] Lazarus,who authored the opinion of the Court,stated,
To the extent that Davis claims Alexander requires the Commonwealth to prove exigent circumstances where the officers have lawfully seized an object under the plain view doctrine,he is mistaken. [13]
In the case of Commonwealth v. Ganjeh (2023),Lazarus was on a three-member panel of Superior Court judges that denied an appeal by Dana Ganjeh,a man who is serving a life without parole sentence for murdering a Linda Frick,a 54-year-old woman whose body was found deceased in August 2018. [15]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Robert Colville | 311,619 | 20.36% | |
| Democratic | Kevin Francis McCarthy | 295,372 | 19.30% | |
| Democratic | Anne Lazarus | 293,095 | 19.15% | |
| Democratic | Paula Patrick | 234,196 | 15.30% | |
| Democratic | Tom Munley | 206,878 | 13.52% | |
| Democratic | John Younge | 189,057 | 12.35% | |
| Total votes | 1,530,217 | 100.0% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Judy Olson | 954,065 | 15.05% | ||
| Republican | Sallie Mundy | 870,091 | 13.73% | ||
| Republican | Paula Ott | 807,328 | 12.74% | ||
| Democratic | Anne E. Lazarus | 726,917 | 11.47% | ||
| Democratic | Robert J. Colville | 724,830 | 11.43% | ||
| Republican | Temp Smith | 723,117 | 11.41% | ||
| Democratic | Kevin Francis McCarthy | 714,237 | 11.27% | ||
| Democratic | Teresa Sarmina | 690,682 | 10.90% | ||
| Libertarian | Marakay J. Rogers | 127,492 | 2.01% | ||
| Total votes | 6,338,759 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican hold | |||||
| Republican hold | |||||
| Republican hold | |||||
| Democratic hold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | David Wecht | 379,819 | 22.02% | |
| Democratic | Kevin Dougherty | 368,629 | 21.37% | |
| Democratic | Christine Donohue | 368,247 | 21.35% | |
| Democratic | Anne Lazarus | 289,726 | 16.79% | |
| Democratic | Dwayne Woodruff | 200,193 | 11.60% | |
| Democratic | John H. Foradora | 118,561 | 6.87% | |
| Total votes | 1,725,175 | 100.0% | ||
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 1,500,891 | 74.49 |
| No | 513,912 | 25.51 |
| Total votes | 2,014,803 | 100.00 |
| Source:PA Department of State | ||
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States,a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania began in 1684 as the Provincial Court,and casual references to it as the "Supreme Court" of Pennsylvania were made official in 1722 upon its reorganization as an entity separate from the control of the colonial governor.
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania is one of two Pennsylvania intermediate appellate courts. It is based in Harrisburg.
Russell M. Nigro is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He first ran on the Democratic ticket in 1995. He ran for retention in 2005 but lost,thus making him the first Supreme Court Justice to lose a retention vote since such elections were first held in 1968.
The First Judicial District is the judicial body governing the county of Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,United States. It consists of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County and the Philadelphia Municipal Court.
Debra McCloskey Todd is an American lawyer who serves as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Prior to her election to the Supreme Court in 2007,she served as a judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania from 2000 through 2007. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Statewide primary elections for various state offices were held in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on May 15,2007. Pennsylvania's general elections were then held statewide on November 6,2007.
Jack Anthony Panella is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. He previously served as the President Judge up until January 6,2024. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to his election to the Superior Court,he was a Judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County,Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania held statewide municipal elections on November 3,2009,to fill a number of judicial positions and to allow judicial retention votes. The necessary primary elections were held on May 19,2009.
Cardozie Darnell Jones II is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Susan Peikes Gantman was a senior judge and president judge emeritus of the Pennsylvania Superior Court. She has been described by historians as "a tireless advocate on behalf of children and other victims of abuse."
Leslie Anne Miller is a Pennsylvania attorney and philanthropist who served as General Counsel of Pennsylvania under Governor Ed Rendell.
Sandra Schultz Newman is a former justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Pennsylvania held statewide elections on November 8,2011,to fill judicial positions and allow judicial retention votes. The necessary primary elections were held on May 17,2011.
Anne X. Alpern was an American jurist and politician who served as the attorney general for Pennsylvania and was later appointed to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. She was the first woman to hold either position.
Pennsylvania held statewide elections on November 3,2015,to fill judicial positions,to fill a vacancy in the Pennsylvania State Senate,to allow judicial retention votes,and to fill numerous county,local and municipal offices.
The 2021 Pennsylvania elections were held on November 2,2021,to fill judicial positions on the Supreme Court,Superior Court,and Commonwealth Court,to allow judicial retention votes,and to fill numerous county,local and municipal offices.
Albert William Sheppard Jr. was an American judge in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia,in Pennsylvania’s First Judicial District. He played significant roles in reducing that court’s case backlog,and in establishing its business court,the Commerce Case Management Program,on which he served for its first 11 years.
John W. Herron is a retired American judge who served for 35 years on the Court of Common Pleas of Pennsylvania's First Judicial District,located in Philadelphia. Herron was the trial division's administrative judge for three three-year terms. As administrative judge in 1999,he issued the order creating the Commerce Case Management Program,Pennsylvania's first specialized business court program. He was first elected in 1987,after having been one of the few judges in modern Pennsylvania history to be recommended for office based on a merit selection process.