2 Superior Court judges to vie for Supreme seat

Superior Court Judge Joan Orie Melvin of Pittsburgh handily defeated her two challengers yesterday in the Republican primary for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Melvin prevailed over Superior Court Judge Cheryl Allen, also of Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia Judge Paul Panepinto in the race for the single open seat.

Melvin, the Republican Party's endorsed candidate, has served as a judge for 23 years at the local, county, and state levels.

"I feel extremely good," said Melvin, reached by phone last night. "I think my message of reform and accountability resonated with voters."

In campaign appearances, Melvin has pledged to restore integrity to a court system tarnished by a string of scandals, most prominent among them one in Luzerne County, where two judges pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks for favorable sentences from the operators of a juvenile detention center. As a result, as many as 1,200 juvenile convictions may be thrown out.

She also drew statewide attention when she filed an unsuccessful lawsuit seeking to refuse the 2005 pay raise approved for all state judges.

Democrat Jack Panella, a Superior Court judge in Northampton County, ran unopposed.

Melvin and Panella will face off in November to fill the high court seat left vacant when Chief Justice Ralph Cappy retired last year. At that time, Gov. Rendell named Jane Cutler Greenspan to an interim appointment on the court. Greenspan accepted under the condition that she not run for the seat in 2009.

In the Superior Court race, the three winning Democrats were Allegheny County Judge Robert J. Colville, Allegheny County prosecutor Kevin McCarthy, and Philadelphia Judge Anne E. Lazarus. The others seeking seats were Philadelphia Judges Paula A. Patrick and John Milton Younge, and Lackawanna County Judge Tom Munley.

The Republican candidates for Superior Court were unopposed: Allegheny County Judge Judith Olson, Pittsburgh lawyer Templeton Smith Jr., and Tioga County lawyer Sallie Updyke Mundy.

Of six Democrats vying for two seats on Commonwealth Court, Pittsburgh lawyers Barbara Jo Ernsberger and Linda S. Judson won. The other candidates were Philadelphia Judge Jimmy Lynn, Pittsburgh lawyer Daniel K. Bricmont, Philadelphia lawyer Stephen G. Pollock, and Pittsburgh lawyer Michael Sherman.

Of the three Republican candidates for Commonwealth Court, Harrisburg lawyer Kevin Brobson and Pittsburgh lawyer Patricia A. McCullough won. They beat Alfonso Frioni Jr., a commissioner on the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Appeals Board from Pittsburgh.