Welcome to Original Jurisdiction, the latest legal publication by me, David Lat. You can learn more about Original Jurisdiction by reading its About page, and you can email me at davidlat@substack.com. This is a reader-supported publication; you can subscribe by clicking here.
During the three-plus years that I’ve been hosting this podcast, I’ve welcomed a diverse range of guests. They’ve exhibited demographic diversity, of course, but also other forms of diversity—including diversity of opinion and experience.
So I was embarrassed when I recently noticed that although I’ve interviewed more than a dozen current and former judges, only two have sat on state courts (and by the time I interviewed them, those judges—Rolando Acosta and Debra Wong Yang—had left the bench). Put another way, I have not, until today, hosted a sitting state-court judge—a considerable omission, considering the significance of state courts. As noted by the National Center for State Courts, “State courts play a critical role in our democracy, handling about 96 percent of all legal cases in the United States.”
I set out to remedy this gap—and was delighted when Justice David Wecht, a longtime friend, agreed to join me. He’s a timely guest: last month, he and two of his colleagues were reelected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, for which I named them Judges of the Week. Why? Their court is one of the most important state courts in the country—for reasons I discussed with Justice Wecht on the episode.
In our conversation, we also covered the justice’s interesting path to the Pennsylvania high court; why he believes young (and not-so-young) lawyers should get involved with their communities; certain unique features of the Pennsylvania Constitution, as well as its relationship to the U.S. Constitution; and, of course, his recent reelection to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Congratulations to Justice Wecht on his reelection—and thanks to him for joining me.
Show Notes:
Justice David N. Wecht bio, The Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania
Approach The Bench: Justice Wecht On Judicial Campaigns, by Cara Bayles and Steven Trader for Law360
Law Day Shabbat: Address by Justice David Wecht, Temple Israel, Wilkes-Barre
Prefer reading to listening? For paid subscribers, a transcript of the entire episode appears below.
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