2 get nod from Senate panel for judge seats

HARRISBURG » A state Senate panel has approved the nominations of two local attorneys to become judges on the Chester County Court of Common Pleas.

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously agreed to send the names of Nichole Forzato and Louis Mincarelli to the full Senate for confirmation to fill two vacant seats in the county.

Both Forzato, currently the county solicitor, and Mincarelli, a partner in a Philadelphia law firm who ran unsuccessfully for judge in 2021, appeared live before the committee in Harrisburg.

Forzato, who was introduced to the committee by state Sen. Tim Kearney, D-26th, of Swarthmore, stressed her commitment throughout her career to public service. She came to the county Solicitor’s Office in 2020 after serving in the same office in Montgomery County and in the state Attorney General’s Office.

“The reason I think that I would be a good addition to the bench is that upon going into law school at Villanova University I went to one of my mentors, and she said to me, ‘To whom much is given much is required.’” Forzato recalled. “She said, ‘Go out and do something more than make money. Make us proud.’

“What I feel I have done my best is in public service,” she said.

Micarelli’s career in public service and private practice was described for the committee by its chairwoman, state Sen. Lisa Baker, R-20th, of Luzerne County. He had served in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office before founding the firm he still is partner in, McCullough McLaughlin & Mincarelli.

He spoke of his family background, with a grandparent who came from Italy and rose from the ground up, and of his commitment to the law and those who appear in court.

If confirmed, he said, “I would dedicate myself to make sure that people have a fair and just experience in court,” he said, from the lowest to the highest in the community. “I believe a judge’s role is to be fair and impartial and to apply the law as it is written. I would not be an activist judge.”

Their nominations, along with 11 others from across the state, will now move to the full Senate where they require a two-thirds vote to win confirmation. It is unknown when they might be voted on, but observers say it could come either this or next week.

The two were nominated last week by Gov. Tom Wolf in an arrangement that allowed both Forzato, a Democrat, and Mincarelli, a Republican, to be put before the GOP-controlled Senate.