A proposal before the Pennsylvania General Assembly would completely upend how voters elect judges and justices to our state appeals courts. House Bill 38 is a proposed state constitutional amendment that would create geographical judicial districts, with each judge and justice on the state Superior, Commonwealth, and Supreme Courts representing those districts, ending our current practice of statewide judicial elections. Opponents, including ACLU-PA, call it judicial gerrymandering, in anticipation that the legislature would draw the districts to benefit their party, as they do with legislative districts.
Kadida Kenner is the director of campaigns for Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center. In this episode, she explains why judicial gerrymandering is so problematic and what you can do about it.
