Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille was surprised by the announcement and immediately, and hopefully in jest, said that the six newcomers might have to file a lawsuit in order to get paid.

1. Legal Daily News Feature
Pennsylvania’s Legal and Financial Woes
By Donna McGill
Earlier in October, six new judges received word that they were chosen to fill several vacancies throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille was surprised by the announcement and immediately, and hopefully in
jest, said that the six newcomers might have to file a lawsuit in order to get paid.
11/06/10 governor’s office to make no changes to the court’s budgets.
This means this week’s election, including that of a new
This week, he changed his tune governor for Pennsylvania, will inherit the deficit and the
and announced that the judges problem. The judge’s request is moot. This means it will be
would indeed be paid, as per top priority for the incoming governor, and one he or she
the state’s constitution. The court will now cover another might not have anticipated before now.
$600,000 in salaries. The problem, however, is that the
state is already facing a $17 million deficit for the fiscal year. This problem only highlights the ongoing problems throughout
Without this approval, the judges would likely have not been the legal profession. With more law students coming to a
sworn in. hard reality that there are fewer positions after graduation,
along with local municipalities and states reining in their
Judge Castille went a step further. He explained that the own respective budgets, this is a prime example of how the
deficits were not due to irresponsible spending or from the dominoes are falling.
court’s failure to ‘’publicly account for its spending’’, but
rather, the deficits are directly linked to underfunding over the Governor Rendell, who is a Democrat, has dodged the
past several years. ‘’These deficits are beyond anything the proverbial bullet. Pennsylvania’s state law prohibits its
judiciary can save its way out of’’, Judge Castille said. governors to only two consecutive four year terms. Adding
a bit of flavor to the dynamics of this controversy is the
It appeared, at least initially, that the six vacancies were a possibility - and some say the likelihood - of a Republican
compromise, considering there are currently twenty openings stepping up to the plate after two terms of a Democrat
throughout the state. Governor Edward Rendell and Judge governor.
Castille agreed to keep those seats empty and would only
fill those most crucial and only after the two had agreed The bottom line, however, is that there is now at least a
on the exceptions. That didn’t happen and the governor’s reduction in the shortage of judges throughout the state and
office made the fillings anyway. Judge Castille called the regardless of the politics involved, that should help with the
move ‘’disrespectful of the judiciary branch’’ and reiterated heaviest caseloads located in areas around Pennsylvania.
in his press release that no one was consulted before the
nominations were made. He then publicly requested the
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