Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court

	Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court
	Court information
Judges:	9
Founded:	1968
Salary:	Associates: $247,188
	Judicial selection
Method:	Partisan election of judges
Term:	10 years

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court is one of Pennsylvania's two intermediate appellate courts, the other being the Superior Court. The Commonwealth Court was established in 1968 in Article V, section 4 of the 1968 Pennsylvania Constitution.

The court is made up of nine judges who serve 10-year terms (beginning the January after their election and ending on the first Monday of the January 10 years later - only on even-numbered years).^[2]^[3] The president judge is chosen by his or her colleagues for a five-year term. The court generally decides cases in three-judge panels and sits in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

Published opinions of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court can be found here.

Jurisdiction

Cases heard by the Commonwealth Court are generally determined by what the case is about, and the identity of the parties to the lawsuit. This is a different way of determining the type of case heard by an appellate court than in other states, where the distinction is usually between civil matters and criminal matters.

The Commonwealth Court usually takes cases:

When the case involves state and local government and regulatory agencies, such as when a lawsuit is filed against one of those governmental agencies.
When the subject involves:

Banking
Insurance
Utility regulation
Taxation (the court hears all state tax appeals from the Board of Finance and Revenue)
Land use (such as eminent domain)

Elections
Labor practices
Workers compensation.
Department of Transportation decisions
Liquor Control Board rulings about liquor licenses.^[4]

Most appellate courts do not have original jurisdiction over cases, but the Commonwealth Court does, including election cases and cases where someone has filed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Judges

Office	Name	Party	Date assumed office
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court	Renée Cohn Jubelirer	Republican	January 6, 2002
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court	Anne Covey	Republican	2012
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court	Lori A. Dumas	Democratic	January 3, 2022
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court	Christine Fizzano Cannon	Republican	2018
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court	Patricia McCullough	Republican	January 4, 2010
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court	Stella Tsai	Democratic	January 5, 2026
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court	Stacy Wallace	Republican	January 3, 2022
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court	Michael Wojcik	Democratic	2016
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court	Matt Wolf	Democratic	January 1, 2024

Senior judges

Judge	Tenure	Appointed By
Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter	February 1, 2016 - Present	Gov. Tom Ridge

Salary

See also: Pennsylvania court salaries and budgets

In 2025, the associate judges of the court received a salary of $247,188, according to the National Center for State Courts.^[5]

Judicial selection

See also: Judicial selection in Pennsylvania

The nine judges of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court are selected in partisan elections.^[6]

Judges serve 10-year terms, after which they must run in yes-no retention elections if they wish to remain on the court. A separate part of the ballot is designated for these elections, and judges' names appear without respect to party affiliation.^[6]^[7] To learn more about these elections, visit the Pennsylvania judicial elections page.

Qualifications

To serve on the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court a judge must:

have state residence for at least one year;
be a member of the state bar; and
be under the age of 75.^[6]^[8]

President judge

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court selects its president judge by peer vote. The president serves in that capacity for five years.^[6]^[9]

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state supreme courts

In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a successor who must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Pennsylvania Senate. Interim judges stand for election at the next municipal election occurring more than 10 months after the vacancy occurred.^[6]

By tradition, appointed interim judges of the supreme court, superior court, or court of appeals do not go on to run for permanent seats. In other words, the governor appoints these judges with the expectation that the judge will only fill the interim vacancy.^[6]

Elections

There are no official candidates yet for this election.

Special election: Ellen H. Ceisler's seat

General election

Special general election for Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court

Stella Tsai (D) defeated Matthew Wolford (R) in the special general election for Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on November 4, 2025.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Stella Tsai (D)	60.4	886,655
	Matthew Wolford (R)	39.6	582,367

	There were no incumbents in this race. Source	Total votes: 1,469,022
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Democratic primary

Special Democratic primary for Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court

Stella Tsai (D) advanced from the special Democratic primary for Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on May 20, 2025.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Stella Tsai	99.4	842,239
	Other/Write-in votes	0.6%	4,957

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 847,196
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Republican primary

Special Republican primary for Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court

Matthew Wolford (R) defeated Joshua Prince (R) in the special Republican primary for Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on May 20, 2025.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Matthew Wolford	61.6	405,704
	Joshua Prince	37.8	248,863
	Other/Write-in votes	0.6%	3,855

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 658,422
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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