* Judge Woodruff received a business degree from the University of Louisville in 1979. While playing for the Steelers — he was a rookie on the 1980 Super Bowl-winning team and the team’s MVP in 1982 — he graduated from Duquesne Law School and began work at a Downtown law firm. It was, he says, an “unprecedented dual career.”
* After the “kids for cash” scandal in which two Luzerne County judges were sentenced for taking kickbacks from the operator of a juvenile facility, the Supreme Court appointed Judge Woodruff to the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice to study what went wrong and make recommendations for preventing similar corruption elsewhere. Later, he chaired an Allegheny County task force formed to tailor the commission’s recommendations for use here.
* Judge Woodruff also has gained valuable perspective as a member of the county Jail Oversight Board and as a member of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. If elected, he would join two other justices, Max Baer and Kevin M. Dougherty, who jumped to the Supreme Court from the Common Pleas level.
* Given the Supreme Court’s sweeping impact, integrity is as important as experience in this race. Judge Dwayne Woodruff has both, and he would be a positive influence on a court that needs to do better for Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: For Pa. Supreme Court: Judge Dwayne Woodruff has the integrity and experience
By The Editorial Board
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which lost two justices and much credibility to the state’s pornographic email scandal, is still rebuilding its reputation.
In the Nov. 7 election, voters will have the opportunity to elect a successor for one of the disgraced justices, J. Michael Eakin, who resigned last year. The candidates are Justice Sallie Mundy, a Republican now serving on the Supreme Court on an interim basis, and Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Dwayne Woodruff, a Democrat whom Pittsburghers remember for his 12 seasons as a defensive back with the Steelers. The Post-Gazette endorses Judge Woodruff, who has worked to improve the reputation and operation of courts before.
This is an important race that has received little attention. The court’s seven justices not only decide some of the state’s most consequential cases but also oversee the administration of lower courts and make appointments to various boards and agencies, including the Judicial Conduct Board and Court of Judicial Discipline. When justices misbehave, they discredit the whole system.
Both Justice Mundy, 55, of Tioga County, and Judge Woodruff, 60, of McCandless, have worthy records. In July 2016, Gov. Tom Wolf tapped Justice Mundy to serve out Mr. Eakin’s term, keeping with the practice of replacing one justice with another of the same party when a vacancy occurs midterm. The Senate confirmed her unanimously.
At the time of her appointment, Justice Mundy was in her seventh year as a judge of the Superior Court, which hears appeals in criminal and most civil cases. Before that, she served as a volunteer public defender in Tioga County and worked for four law firms that exposed her to health care law and other kinds of cases in much of the state. She has Western Pennsylvania ties: a bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College and a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
Judge Woodruff received a business degree from the University of Louisville in 1979. While playing for the Steelers — he was a rookie on the 1980 Super Bowl-winning team and the team’s MVP in 1982 — he graduated from Duquesne Law School and began work at a Downtown law firm. It was, he says, an “unprecedented dual career.”
In 1997, he founded his own firm, Woodruff Flaherty. In 2005, he won a seat on Common Pleas Court, where he has taken the unusual step of remaining in the family division instead of moving on to criminal and civil dockets as most judges are eager to do. He says his interest in family law corresponds with his charitable interests, which include truancy- and violence-prevention initiatives.
Both candidates pledged to avoid the judicial activism that blurs the separation of powers. Justice Mundy joined other justices in a Sept. 28 ruling reinstating a lawsuit over public school funding. Republicans assailed it as judicial overreach, but it does no more than allow districts’ complaints to be heard in a lower court.
While Justice Mundy’s background on the Superior and Supreme courts has exposed her to a wider variety of cases than her opponent has faced, Judge Woodruff has other experiences that compensate. After the “kids for cash” scandal in which two Luzerne County judges were sentenced for taking kickbacks from the operator of a juvenile facility, the Supreme Court appointed Judge Woodruff to the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice to study what went wrong and make recommendations for preventing similar corruption elsewhere. Later, he chaired an Allegheny County task force formed to tailor the commission’s recommendations for use here.
Judge Woodruff also has gained valuable perspective as a member of the county Jail Oversight Board and as a member of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. If elected, he would join two other justices, Max Baer and Kevin M. Dougherty, who jumped to the Supreme Court from the Common Pleas level.
Given the Supreme Court’s sweeping impact, integrity is as important as experience in this race. Judge Dwayne Woodruff has both, and he would be a positive influence on a court that needs to do better for Pennsylvania.
Read the endorsement here.