Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly rejected billionaire Jeffrey Yass’ attempt to overturn Pennsylvania’s Democratically-controlled Supreme Court on Tuesday by voting to retain Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht.
These retention elections are typically apolitical, nonpartisan affairs, but Yass’ influence ushered in a new era of Pennsylvania politics after he spent more than $3 million on digital and television ads and campaign mailers to trick people into voting against retaining all three judges.
Matt Brouillette, President and CEO of the Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs, which is funded by Yass, had some interesting thoughts about Tuesday’s results.
“Unfortunately, out-of-state special interests, unions, and trial lawyers were the big winners on Tuesday — not the people of Pennsylvania,” Brouillette told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a statement.
“While those who support the rule of law came up short in our historic effort to unseat sitting justices, judges across Pennsylvania should take note that they won’t get a pass on retention elections when they choose to legislate from the bench rather than interpret the law.”
“It was unfortunate that while the left was able to rally more than 40 groups to fund and fight for [Pennsylvania’s] progressive justices, the right clearly lacked the motivation to get engaged like we hoped.”
