First Woman President Judge In Montco Announces PA Supreme Court Run

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Another jurist has thrown her name in the hat for the state Supreme Court seat left vacant after the recent passing of Chief Justice Max Baer.

Carolyn Carluccio, a state trial judge who sits on the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in Norristown, announced she would be running to replace Baer, a Democrat.

Carluccio, a Republican, was the first-ever woman chosen to serve as the president judge of Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, which handles civil, criminal, juvenile, family and other legal matters.

Carluccio is the second candidate to announce a Supreme Court run, joining Superior Court Judge Daniel McCaffery, a Democrat from Philadelphia, in the race to replace Baer, who died in early October at 74 years of age.

Had he not passed away, Baer would have been forced into retirement next year regardless since Pennsylvania judges must leave the bench by age 75.

Judges who are older than 75, however, have the ability to seek special approval to continue serving in the role of senior judges.

Related: PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Max Baer Dies

Carluccio was elected as a judge in Montgomery County back in 2009 and was chosen to be its president judge just last year.

“For over a decade, I have had the privilege of presiding over criminal, family, civil and juvenile cases,” Carluccio told the Patriot-News of Harrisburg in a story. “This diverse court experience can serve as an asset to Pennsylvanians seeking experienced judges for our highest court.”

In a letter posted publicly on the Facebook page of Republican State Committeeman Mike McMullen of Allegheny County, Carluccio wrote that she was spurred in part to run for the high court seat because "recent rulings handed down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court stand as a stark reminder of just how important a role the Court plays in our Commonwealth."

"As a jurist, my judicial philosophy closely aligns with that which strives to protect individual liberties while keeping undue government bureaucracy in check," Carluccio wrote in the letter. "As a proud American, I hold nothing more dearly than those inalienable rights that Thomas Jefferson so beautifully enumerated in our country's Declaration of Independence. As a Supreme Court Justice, you can rest assured that I will protect the rights to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' for every single Pennsylvanian."

In the letter, Carluccio lays out a professional bio that she says proves her ability to carry out the duties of a Supreme Court justice.

Carluccio obtained her law degree from the Delaware Law School and went on to work as an assistant U.S. attorney for eight years, gaining what she called "extensive federal jury trial experience and managing cases from the investigative stages through trial and appeal."

She later served as the chief deputy solicitor for Montgomery County and as the director of human resources for the county before getting elected to the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in 2009.

During her decade-plus as a state judge, (Common Pleas Courts, while located in each of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, are actually state, not county, level courts), Carluccio said she served as the president of the bar association and is the incoming president of the Pennsylvania State Trial Judges organization.

She points out the fact that her colleagues "recognized my hard work" when electing her as the first-ever woman president judge in Pennsylvania's third largest county.

An article on Law.com says that Carluccio has been praised for her efforts to get the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court out of its backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during the past couple of years, which took the form of expanding trial capacity and improving case management procedures.

Attorneys who have practiced before Carluccio say they can attest to the jurist's competency and legal knowhow.

"As an attorney that has been before Judge Carluccio on several occasions, I can attest to her character, temperament, and impartiality. While offered the opportunity on a number of occasions to legislate from the bench, she has always refrained and instead, strictly adhered to the law, as written," civil rights attorney Joshua Prince, of the Berks County-based Civil Rights Defense Firm, wrote to Patch.

Prince, a Republican running for an open seat on Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court, was recently profiled on Patch regarding his candidacy in that race.

"As an attorney that has spent my career defending civil liberties at the state and federal level, it is extremely important to me and for purposes of our Republic that our next justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have a deep appreciation and respect for the Pennsylvania and U.S. Constitutions. Judge Carluccio and her judicial decisions epitomize those qualities. I can think of no other jurist that I would rather see on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court."