For Commonwealth Court

Ellen Ceisler and Christine Fizzano Cannon

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court is a relatively new creature — 49 years old — and its role as arbiter of cases involving government agencies is unusual. It is both a trial court, hearing cases brought against commonwealth agencies, and an appellate court, ruling on appeals of Common Pleas cases involving local governments.

Open records, environmental and education law, municipal ordinances, tax disputes and litigation involving roads, bridges, prisons and police are some of the matters falling within its purview. The court’s reach is expansive, and once elected, its nine judges face only retention votes every 10 years. Commonwealth Court judges should be elected with great care.

On Nov. 7, voters will elect two new members of the court from among four candidates. The Democratic candidates are Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Ellen Ceisler and Irene McLaughlin Clark, who was a judge from 1993 to 2003 on the Pittsburgh Municipal Court. The Republican candidates are Upper St. Clair attorney Paul Lalley and Delaware County Common Pleas Judge Christine Fizzano Cannon. The PostGazette endorses Judge Ceisler, who has broad experience and good ideas for improving the court’s performance, and Judge Fizzano Cannon, who is impressive partly because of her temperament and civic-mindedness.

Ms. Clark, 55, of Shadyside, received a “not recommended” rating from the Pennsylvania Bar Association. While her work is important — since leaving the bench she has worked with community organizations on blight and helped property owners resolve tax delinquencies — her opponents have better resumes.

Mr. Lalley, 47, who ran for Commonwealth Court unsuccessfully two years ago, is a senior associate with Campbell Durrant Beatty Palombo & Miller and previously worked for Levin Legal Group in his native Montgomery County. He has focused on labor and employment law for government clients, including municipalities, authorities and school districts, the kinds of entities that often figure in Commonwealth Court cases. In 2007, while representing the McGuffey School District in Washington County, he argued a case that would have made it easier for school boards to fire superintendents — a power they sorely need. He lost the case at the state Supreme Court.

Mr. Lalley has a “recommended” rating from the state bar, and he received the Post-Gazette’s endorsement when he ran in 2015. This year, however, two of his opponents also have formidable backgrounds, plus the judicial experience that would give them a running start on the Commonwealth Court.

Judge Ceisler, 60, elected to the Philadelphia court in 2007, hears civil cases. Before that, she was assigned to the criminal division and served as a motions judge, ruling on local government cases like some of those landing in Commonwealth Court. Other steps on her career ladder also contributed to her capacity for legal analysis: She was a prosecutor, an investigative producer for a television station, director of the Philadelphia police department’s Office of Integrity and Accountability, a special adviser to the Philadelphia sheriff and director of the special investigations and fraud unit for the Philadelphia controller’s office.

In more ways than one, Judge Fizzano Cannon, 48, has been in the trenches of municipal law. Before her 2011 election to the Delaware County bench, where she heads the civil trial section, she worked as a solicitor to municipal governments and as an assistant county solicitor. But she also was elected to seats on Delaware County Council and Middletown Township Council and accepted an appointment to Middletown’s zoning hearing board. She has devoted time to important community interests, serving on the board of the Tyler Arboretum, as assistant solicitor to the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum and as a member of the Delaware County Women’s Commission.

Judge Ceisler, rated “recommended” by the state bar, has called for more consistent treatment of pro se litigants, saying they’re sometimes held to the same standards as attorneys and other times are not. She also wants to rotate Commonwealth Court sessions — now held in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Philadelphia — to other parts of the state. Judge Fizzano Cannon, who was “highly recommended” by the bar, has won praise for being patient and courteous to litigants. That quality is of inestimable value in a judiciary much infected by arrogance and should serve as an example to her colleagues.

Judge Ellen Ceisler and Judge Christine Fizzano Cannon stand out in the field of candidates for Commonwealth Court, and they receive the Post-Gazette’s endorsement.