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Castille wins another term on Pa. Supreme Court

HARRISBURG - Voters on Tuesday sent Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille back to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for a third term.

Ron Castille, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a Q&A with the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board Wednesday October 30, 2013. ( Ed Hille / Staff Photographer)
Ron Castille, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a Q&A with the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board Wednesday October 30, 2013. ( Ed Hille / Staff Photographer)Read more

HARRISBURG - Voters on Tuesday sent Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille back to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for a third term.

Castille, 69, will serve only one year of his 10-year term, because the mandatory retirement age for jurists is 70.

His Democratic colleague, Max Baer, also returns to the high court for another 10-year term, although, barring a constitutional change, he will be required to retire in 2017, when he turns 70.

In the only statewide election this year, Allegheny County Judge John McVay, a Democrat, lost a tight race to Republican lawyer Vic Stabile for an open seat on the Superior Court.

Stabile shook up the race last week by airing a TV ad criticizing McVay because his fiancee and sister-in-law are on the Allegheny County court payroll.

McVay called the ad unfair because he did nothing wrong, and a Pennsylvania Bar Association panel asked Stabile to take down the ad, but he has refused, The 56-year-old Stabile is a corporate lawyer in Harrisburg and a former Cumberland County Republican Committee chairman.

Voters also retained two sitting Superior Court judges: Susan Peikes Gantman, a Republican, and Jack A. Panella, a Democrat.

Castille, the Republican chief justice since 2008, said he plans to use his final year on the court to continue his court-reform efforts and oversee the opening of the Philadelphia Family Court building.

Castille's leadership had been questioned by reform groups, and some of his opinions - among them the legislative pay raise and legislative redistricting - have been unpopular, prompting a vigorous late campaign to overcome efforts by the tea party and reform groups to unseat him.

Castille presided over changes in the court operations following the Luzerne County "kids for cash" scandal that sent two juvenile court judges to prison. After the convictions, Castille ordered records expunged for 2,401 juvenile offenders.

Baer said he was "pleased and humbled" by his retention at a time of widespread voter discontentment. "My poll showed there was discontent among voters because of what was occurring at the federal level," he said. "I am glad voters looked at Pennsylvania and decided we were worthy of another term."