An article in the Philadelphia Inquirer reveals that Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille is accepting gifts and trips from lawyers and businessmen.

Superior Court Judge Correale Stevens has been elected to a five-year term as President Judge of the Superior Court.  Judge Stevens will replace current President Judge Kate Ford Elliot, whose term as President Judge will end in January 2011.  As the press release for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts explains: "Every five years, the fifteen elected judges of the s

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that top court officials have dropped criminal charges of over 19,000 defendants who skipped court. All are from cases from 1998 and earlier.

Actions toward beginning construction on the new family court building are currently under way.

The Luzerne County Public Defender's Office has announced that its new unit dedicated to juveniles is now up and running.  The Times Leader reports that the unit has three attorneys, a social worker, an investigator and a secretary, all fully devoted to juvenile cases.  Until n

The parties involved in the litigation regarding the development of a new Family Court building in Philadelphia have announced that they have reached a settlement through mediation.  The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that "[D]evel

Retired United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently appeared on PBS’ News Hour to talk about civics education, judicial elections and having three women on the Supreme Court.  The whole interview is worth watching, but pay close attention to what Justice O&rsqu

A sharp commentary on judicial elections appeared in a British publication this week. An Economist blog post entitled “Lunacy on the march” harshly criticizes the practice of electing judges.

According to a profile in the Pennsylvania Law Weekly (subscription required), the Pennsylvania As

Chief Justice Castille has objected to recent nominations to fill lower court vacancies because of severe budget shortfalls.  Earlier this year, Castille and Governor Rendell agreed to a moratorium on appointments, with the only exceptions to be if a President Judge directly informed the Chief Justice that the work could not get done with the use of senior judges.  Castille informed t