Debra Todd
Debra McCloskey Todd is a justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. She was first elected to the court as a Democrat in 2007. She was retained in 2017.[1]
Education
Todd received her B.A. from Chatham College in 1979 and her J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1982. In 2004, she earned her LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law.[1]
Career
After graduating from law school, Todd was a litigation attorney for U.S. Steel Corporation from 1982 to 1987. After that, she went into private practice, where she stayed until her election to the Pennsylvania Superior Court in 1999. She was elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2007.[1]
Awards and associations
Awards
- 2008: Honorary Doctorate in Public Service, Chatham University
- 2008: Celebrate & Share Women of Achievement Award
- 2007-2008: Woman of the Year Award, The Legal Intelligencer Women in the Profession
- 2007: Democratic Elected Woman of the Year, Pennsylvania Federation of Democratic Women
Associations
- Board of directors, Pittsburgh Action Against Rape
- Board of directors, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera
- Board of directors, Finnegan Foundation
- Member, National Association of Women Judges
- Member, American Judicature Society
- Member, International Association of Women Judges[1]
Noteworthy cases
Wolf v. Scarnati (2020)
Wolf v. Scarnati: On July 1, 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled against legislative Republicans in favor of Gov. Tom Wolf (D), upholding his ability to maintain COVID-19 shutdown orders. The lawsuit stemmed from Wolf’s March 6, 2020, emergency disaster proclamation, which he renewed on June 3, 2020. On June 9, 2020, the Pennsylvania General Assembly adopted a concurrent resolution, HR836, seeking to terminate the disaster emergency, which was not presented to the governor for approval or veto. The governor did not comply. Three Republican state senators filed a complaint in the Commonwealth Court, asking the court to command Wolf to comply with their resolution by "issuing an executive order or proclamation ending the state of disaster emergency." Wolf asked the state supreme court to exercise extraordinary jurisdiction, thus removing the case to the high court. The state supreme court held that HR836 was a legal nullity because the Pennsylvania Constitution required that concurrent resolutions relating to emergency declarations be presented to the governor for approval or veto. As the General Assembly did not do so, the court refused to order Wolf to end the shutdown, stating, "The Pennsylvania Constitution does not empower the legislature to act unilaterally to suspend a law, and the Governor’s purported suspension of law did not violate the non-delegation doctrine." Justice David N. Wecht wrote the court's opinion, which Justices Max Baer, Debra Todd, and Christine Donohue joined. Justice Kevin M. Dougherty filed a separate opinion, concurring and dissenting in part.[2]
No retroactive increase in sex offender registration periods
In Commonwealth v. Muniz, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Pennsylvania’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) could not apply retroactively to a defendant who was found guilty of a sex crime before the legislation took effect.[3] The court ruled that SORNA’s registration requirements constituted a criminal punishment and that the ex post facto clauses of the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions prevented the state from punishing defendants beyond what the law allowed at the time of his or her crime. Justice Todd concurred with the majority's judgment but joined a concurring opinion authored by Justice David N. Wecht.
Elections
2017
Debra Todd was retained in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (Todd Seat) election with 70.83 percent of the vote. [4]
| Pennsylvania Supreme Court (Todd Seat), 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes votes | |
 Debra Todd | 70.83% | |
| Source: Pennsylvania Department of State, "2017 Municipal Election Official Returns," accessed Jauary 24, 2018 | ||
2007
Todd was elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2007, after winning 26.5 percent of the vote in a four-way race. [5]
Political ideology
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Todd received a campaign finance score of -0.54, indicating a liberal ideological leaning. This was more liberal than the average score of -0.02 that justices received in Pennsylvania.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[6]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Pennsylvania Justice Debra Todd. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
- Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System, "Honorable Debra McCloskey Todd"
- Project Vote Smart, "Justice Debra McCloskey Todd (PA)"
- Post-Gazette, "Lady Justice is nonpartisan" by Justice Debra Todd, November 23, 2009
- First Amendment Center, "Pa. appeals court says reporter may protect source's identity," January 8, 2007 (dead link)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System, "Justice Debra McCloskey Todd," accessed September 2, 2016
- ↑ Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, "Wolf v. Scarnati: Opinion," July 1, 2020
- ↑ Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Commonwealth v. Muniz, filed July 19, 2017
- ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "Declarations of Candidacy Filed by Incumbent Judges for Retention in 2017," accessed March 10, 2017
- ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "2007 Municipal Election Results"
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
Federal courts:
Third Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Middle District of Pennsylvania, Western District of Pennsylvania • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Middle District of Pennsylvania, Western District of Pennsylvania
State courts:
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania • Pennsylvania Superior Court • Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court • Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas • Pennsylvania Magisterial Districts
State resources:
Courts in Pennsylvania • Pennsylvania judicial elections • Judicial selection in Pennsylvania
