Kevin Brobson | Facebook
Kevin Brobson | Facebook
The website of Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson, a candidate for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, says he promises to defends the law “as it is written.”
After the state high court’s questionable actions involving the 2020 general election, Brobson’s restraint is exactly what the court needs, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board writes.
"After Pennsylvania’s 2020 election mess, the state Supreme Court needs an injection of judicial restraint, and Judge Kevin Brobson wants to deliver the first dose," the piece states.
The board noted that Pennsylvania elections law “clearly says” mailed ballots must be received by 8 p.m. Election Day.
“Yet two months before the vote, a 4-3 majority conjured a COVID-19 exception: Mail ballots that arrived three days late would be valid, even without a postmark,” they ruled.
The majority opinion admitted that there is “no ambiguity” in the state law regarding the timeline for the ballots but justified the move the move under the state Constitution is “vague promise” of free and equal elections.
The state’s high court ruled that 300 absentee ballots, not dated, in a state Senate race must be counted, the Wall Street Journal noted. Again the state’s election law is clear, that voters must “fill out, date and sign” the ballots. In an earlier ruling in the case, Brobson wrote that “to remove the date requirement would constitute a judicial rewrite of the statute.”
The Supreme Court race, even though it won’t change Democratic majority on the court, currently at 5-2, has attracted big money donors, Spotlight PA reports.
Democrat Maria McLaughlin has raised nearly $2.7 million, more than half of it from trial lawyers and unions. The majority of Brobson’s $2.8 million has come from the PAC, the Commonwealth Leaders Fund.
“In recent years, the state Supreme Court has thrown out Pennsylvania’s gerrymandered congressional map, upheld Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus pandemic restrictions, and decided contentious issues involving the state’s mail voting law,” the report said.
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