In the two decades since The Legal Intelligencer marked its 150th anniversary, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has navigated the rapids of controversy — among them the criminal convictions of two justices and a botched pay raise that exacted a fearsome political toll. It has also enjoyed breakthrough triumphs, like the taming of case backlog in Philadelphia, the imposition of new controls on medical malpractice suits — controls that may have staved off efforts to impose a damages cap — as well as opening a new administrative home for the state court system.

Those triumphs and controversies made the biggest headlines, but I am drawn to the late Chief Justice Ralph Cappy’s view: The heart of the justices’ work is to function as a "teaching court," directing bench and bar in the development of the common law, statutory interpretation and the state constitution.

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