Jury commissioner case argued before state Supreme Court
The Pennsylvania State Association of Jury Commissioners argued its case Wednesday before the state Supreme Court in Philadelphia to have its members remain elected officeholders in counties where the commissioners have abolished the job.
This marked the second time that the case has gone to the state’s highest court.
Both Washington County jury commissioners, Richard Zimmerman, a Republican, and Judith Fisher, a Democrat, are among the 17 appellants in the case, and Zimmerman attended the Philadelphia proceeding. Their four-year terms expire at the end of this year, and, barring a court order, the office will not appear on the ballot Nov. 5.
The jury commissioners in Greene County did not attempt to file for office this year.
Clinton Bonnetti, former Cecil Township planning director and zoning enforcement officer, is now a Democratic jury commissioner in Butler County and president of the state association. He and two others filed for jury commissioner in Butler County, but the county commissioners voted to abolish the office two days after the May 21 primary. Bonnetti said he has his “fingers crossed” that the Supreme Court decides the case far enough in advance of the November election, although there is no guarantee.
Gov. Tom Corbett earlier this year signed into law a second act of the Legislature to allow counties to eliminate the jury commissioners’ offices. Washington and Greene county commissioners, under both the first act that was declared unconstitutional and the most recent version, have voted to abolish the offices.
A per curiam order granted the jury commissioners’ request for expedited argument, in part, but limited the issues to whether the Legislature can repeal what the jury commissioners argue are judicial offices and whether the Legislature can give to commissioners the ability to abolish the office and affect the manner of selection of juries.
The state Supreme Court upheld the jury commissioners’ challenge to the 2011 law that allowed counties to abolish their offices, but decided the matter on technical rather than constitutional grounds. The court took the Legislature to task for “logrolling,” or bundling, the jury commissioner abolishment option with unrelated legislation rather than considering it as a separate bill.