Back in 1996, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that the state’s General Assembly was required to fund county courts and issued an order for the General Assembly to fund the county courts as required by the state constitution. That order stemmed from the court’s 1987 decision that unequal funding for the state’s county courts was a constitutional violation.
| The Legal Intelligencer Editorial Board |
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| Jeremy D. Mishkin Chairman |
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| Albert S. Dandridge III Francis P. Devine III Richard Feder Shira J. Goodman Michele D. Hangley Gregory Harvey Jeffrey P. Lewis Nathaniel Metz |
Albert P. Parker Daniel Siegel Louis Sirico John Soroko Peter Vaira Alan L. Yatvin Raymond M. Williams |
The Editorial Board of The Legal Intelligencer is composed of members of the legal profession. They serve voluntarily and are independent of The Legal Intelligencer. Through their ongoing exchange of views, members of the board attempt to develop consensus on issues of importance to the bench, bar and public. Members of the legal community are invited to contribute signed op-ed pieces. |
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In its 1987 decision in County of Allegheny v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , the court reasoned: “The citizens of this Commonwealth have a right not only to expect neutrality and fairness in the adjudication of legal cases, but also, they have a right to be absolutely certain this neutrality and fairness will actually be applied in every case. But if court funding is permitted to continue in the hands of local political authorities, it is likely to produce nothing but suspicion or perception of bias and favoritism. As the framers of our constitution recognized, a unified system of jurisprudence cannot tolerate such uncertainties. All courts must be free and independent from the occasion of political influence and no court should even be perceived to be biased in favor of local political authorities who pay the bills.”
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