Judge Matt Wolf for Commonwealth Court | Endorsement

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court is an uncommon institution. It has nine members, meets in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, and is specifically designed to handle cases that intersect with state agencies. It often oversees election law cases and even occasionally serves as a trial court. As a result, it requires judges with extensive experience and judicial know-how.

Judge Matt Wolf, the Democrat in the race, is well-suited to the demands of the court.

A civil rights trial lawyer for more than 25 years, his public service didn’t begin when he was elected in 2017 to Philadelphia’s Municipal Court. Wolf is an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and still serves with the Pennsylvania National Guard.

Even keeled and mild-mannered, Wolf brings a refreshing humility to the bench. As he told this board, how you are treated changes once you become a judge. “You become funnier,” he said. “All of a sudden, everybody laughs at what you say. And some judges don’t understand that.” This awareness of the importance of keeping your ego in check is essential to avoiding poor and imperious decision-making.

Wolf also has been unafraid to take on tough challenges.

Days after being deployed as part of the National Guard during the civil unrest after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Wolf was asked to become the supervising civil judge of Philadelphia’s Municipal Court, which had faced criticism over its handling of eviction cases. He accepted.

In that role, Wolf helped design the city’s eviction diversion program. As a result, thousands of Philadelphians have been able to stay in their homes, and the program has become a national model. He was lauded by the Pennsylvania Bar Association for his leadership in improving rules and processes within the court.

Wolf’s opponent, Megan Martin, also has an extensive résumé and history of service, including being the first woman chosen as the Pennsylvania Senate’s secretary-parliamentarian. While she did better than her Republican ticket partner, Carolyn Carluccio, when it came to answering this board’s questions about the 2020 election, she also gave too much credence to allegations of sloppiness in the electoral process. Considering the Commonwealth Court’s key role in election law, that remains a cause for concern.

It certainly was not ideal that Pennsylvania’s first election with universal mail-in balloting coincided with a global pandemic and a contentious presidential election. But the growing pains of processing hundreds of thousands of mail ballots for the first time — while maintaining social distancing — were expected and forecasted by election officials. The Philadelphia City Commissioners, for example, asked for double their previous budget in order to accommodate their needs.

State and local election officials handled the task admirably, and the extended wait for results has been significantly curtailed. At this point, there’s no excuse to continue to lend credence to bogus election concerns.

Martin presents herself as a bipartisan consensus-builder. Certainly, her career working for the state Senate, service as an attorney for the U.S. Navy, and work across two gubernatorial administrations lends credence to that claim. Still, she was unwilling to decisively weigh in on the ethical lapses by conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, claiming she hadn’t “followed it all too extensively.” Wolf was clear in his denunciation.

Martin also lacks experience on the bench, which gives her opponent the edge.

The Editorial Board recommends Matt Wolf for the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.