My first job after graduating from law school was clerking for an appellate court judge.

From 1987 to 1988, I worked, and learned, under the Honorable James R. Cavanaugh on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. That year taught me more about the law than the prior three spent taking exams and reviewing cases.

Having worked intimately with a man like Judge Cavanaugh, who looked at his office as both a profound privilege and a great obligation to the people of Pennsylvania, it became clear to me that only a certain sort of person is worthy of the job.

That sort of person applies the law without fear or favor, and does not place his or her thumb on the scale of justice for partisans or dissidents.

That is why I oppose the retention of Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht, the three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices running to keep their seats for another 10-year term.

Retention elections are rather obscure things, and often fall under the radar. The juicy battles are in the contested elections, where candidates have to appeal to a wide voter base.

They cannot appear to be biased in favor of one side or the other, even though our elections are by their very nature partisan.

As a general rule, I’m against electing judges, but that’s a controversy for another column. We are stuck with the system that we have, and I make the best of it.

The “best of it” essentially means that we assess each candidate on his or her judicial demeanor, and their ability to be fair and neutral arbiters of the law.

They cannot seem to have a particular affection for one side in a case or controversy, and they cannot show their hand on howthey personally feel about a subject.

That is why I have criticized President Donald Trump when he attacks judges who he doesn’t think are doing his bidding.

He seems to have this idea that the judges he appoints work for him, just as he thinks the same thing about the Justice Department.

No matter how many times people try and explain that they work for us, “we the people,” he turns a deaf ear. But that’s okay.

The best judges just put their heads down, read the law, interpret it according to their best judgment, and ignore the outside noise.

That’s what James Cavanaugh always did, and that is why he was one of the most respected jurists of his generation.

Sadly, that is not what Donohue, Dougherty and Wecht have done.

There are a lot of reasons to reject their retention efforts, including the improper redistricting votes and their activities in approving what many of us believed to be unconstitutional shutdowns during COVID.

But the thing that has angered me is their very obvious, very active and extremely inappropriate lobbying for the abortion industry.

It’s no secret that I am one hundred percent pro life.I have prayed in front of abortion clinics, given money to pro-lifeorganizations, and spoken on the Capitol steps in our state capital.

But even if I were proudly pro-choice, I would be repelled by the overt bias demonstrated by these three justices.

They continue to run ads in the Philadelphia media market, and I am quite sure in other Pennsylvania outlets, touting their intention to keep abortion legal and widely available.

You might say, well that’s OK because they are simply announcing their support for laws that protect abortion rights. They are essentially saying that they will follow the laws, even though they might personally disagree with abortion.

But that is not what they are doing.

Donohue, Dougherty and Wecht are announcing quite brazenly that they will make sure to protect abortion rights in this state, even if the Legislature passes laws that restrict those rights consistent with the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Like Josh Shapiro, the most pro-abortion governor in the history of the commonwealth, they are telling us that they will not allow abortion to be eliminated or restricted even if the Legislature passes laws that would authorize it.

That is what they are saying, with the imprimatur of Planned Parenthood in several of the ads.

And as Maya Anjelou said, when someone tells you who they are, believe them.

I believe that these three justices will not act like justices, but rather like Planned Parenthood escorts in those orange vests.

And I will vote accordingly.

Copyright 2025 Christine Flowers