Black Lives Matter movement sparks electoral defeat for FOP
By Betsey Piette posted on May 27, 2021
Protesters call on Krasner to “Free Mumia” in Philadelphia, March 12.
Philadelphia
For decades, the endorsement of the powerful Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police was sought by almost every candidate running for office in the city and throughout Pennsylvania. Through the power of its purse strings, the FOP has been able to fill the courts with judges who favor capital punishment, high bail and long sentences, even for minor crimes. It could count on politicians to pass “get tough on crime legislation” and to look the other way when victims of police brutality demanded justice.
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Tuesday’s election was heavy on ballot questions. The ones that tended to gain the most attention were the two at the top statewide proposals to fence in the emergency powers of the governor; those amendments passed by a close 53% to 47%. Another amendment that would protect people from denial of rights on basis of race or ethnicity passed by a wider 72% to 28% margin.
Ballot questions occupy an odd place in the way representative democracy works.
In all other aspects of the republic, the process leans hard into the representative aspect. The election process is about picking the people who will make the laws, judge the decisions or execute the day-to-day business of keeping everything running.
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Over just 10 weeks, volunteers working with a consortium of groups and Alliance for Police Accountability collected more than 45,000 signatures to get a question on Allegheny County’s ballot: Should jail officials be prohibited from using solitary confinement, the restraint chair and chemical agents on those incarcerated there?
The measure passed with nearly 70% voting in favor.
“When I woke up this morning, the first thing on my mind were the people currently in ACJ and the people in solitary confinement that say they don’t matter,” said Brandi Fisher, who heads the alliance. “I was brought to tears of joy. That’s why we do this work to be able to have an impact on people’s worlds.”
Voters on Tuesday will have the chance to impact the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court’s future as nine seats are up for election. Thirty-nine candidates are vying for 10-year positions on the bench. Judges earn $189,794. Although there is a large slate of candidates this year, it’s not even close
Bissoon | PA Courts
PITTSBURGH – Litigation from a public interest law organization against a criminal court judge in Allegheny County, which claimed that the judge violated the First Amendment through preventing the plaintiff and members of the public from remotely observing criminal proceedings in his courtroom, has been settled and withdrawn.
Abolitionist Law Center first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on March 2 versus Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony D. Mariani. Both parties are of Pittsburgh.
The plaintiff is a nonprofit law firm which oversees a court-watching program in Pennsylvania’s Fifth Judicial District, which includes Allegheny County. The program’s volunteers observe dozens of criminal hearings each week, in order to monitor the day-to-day operations of the County’s justice system and share those observations with local community members, advocates and journalists