Court Opinion

ID: 9691674
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 20:57:38.561947+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:23.726161
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING STATEMENT

LAMB, Justice.
This Court declined to enter the fray in this election case for reasons well-rooted in case law and its underlying public policy favoring liberal construction of the Election Code.1 The tortuous procedure of the case is laid out in the Dissenting Statement and there is no need to repeat it here, except to emphasize that the trial court’s initial errors of, first, failing to examine all of the challenged signatures and, second, failing to apply a single standard of review to that examination, were the points at which the problems which this case presented could have been avoided.
The case came to this Court after the trial court had stayed its own order which would have removed Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s name from the ballot for the Democratic primary in the Seventh Councilmanic Ward of Philadelphia. As the dissent notes, the trial court did not write an a opinion. Therefore, this Court could not know whether or not the trial court had correctly applied the standards set forth in Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission v. Process Gas Consumers Group, 502 Pa. 545, 467 A.2d 805 (Pa.1983), and reiterated in Maritrans G.P., Inc. v. Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz, 524 Pa. 415, 573 A.2d 1001, 1003 (Pa.1990) (before granting a request for a stay, the court must be satisfied the issuance of the stay will not substantially harm other interested parties in the proceedings and will not adversely affect the public interest).
This Court was asked to assume extraordinary jurisdiction2 in order to dissolve the stays of the orders to remove Fitz*516Patrick’s name from the ballot entered by both the trial court and the Commonwealth Court - albeit on differing issues in the litigation. To do so, this Court could not simply dissolve the stay, but we would have been constrained to find that:
granting injunctive relief under these circumstances so circumvents our rules that such action transcends a mere error of law and, in fact, exceeds the jurisdiction vested in a court of equity. In cases where we have found an inferior court acting in excess of its authority in adjudicating a case, we have restrained the inferior court through the writ of prohibition as an extraordinary remedy in cases of extreme necessity to secure order and regularity in judicial proceedings if none of the ordinary remedies provided by law is applicable or adequate to afford relief.
Reading Anthracite Co. v. Rich, 525 Pa. 118, 577 A.2d 881, 886 (Pa.1990)
In Glen Mills Schools v. Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, 513 Pa. 310, 520 A.2d 1379, 1382 (Pa.1987), this Court stated, “a writ of prohibition is proper where the inferior tribunal abuses its jurisdiction.” Glen Mills, 520 A.2d at 1381. This Court then noted a prior decision, Capital Cities Media, Inc. v. Toole, 506 Pa. 12, 483 A.2d 1339 (Pa. 1984), which held that “our cases have extended the application of the writ of prohibition to encompass situations in which an inferior court, which has jurisdiction, exceeds its authority in adjudicating the case. This latter situation has been termed an ‘abuse of discretion.’” Glen Mills, 520 A.2d at 1381 (quoting Capital Cities Media, 483 A.2d at 1342).
The criteria for granting a writ of prohibition are satisfied by meeting a two-pronged test. Carpentertown Coal and *517Coke Co. v. Laird, 360 Pa. 94, 61 A.2d 426 (Pa.1948). First, it must be established that there is no adequate remedy at law to afford relief; second, there must be extreme necessity for the relief requested to secure order and regularity in judicial proceedings. Where relief may be sought through ordinary avenues of judicial review, the writ is not appropriate. Glen Mills, 520 A.2d at 1382; see also Commonwealth v. Vartan, 557 Pa. 390, 733 A.2d 1258, 1263 (Pa.1999).
Therefore, for this court to effect a dissolution of the stays entered by the trial court and the Commonwealth Court, it would have to have found that “there is no adequate remedy at law to afford relief’ and “there must be extreme necessity for the relief requested.” Glen Mills, 520 A.2d at 1382. As a result, for this Court to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction to lift the stays, it would have to have found that such an action would have been necessary to “secure order and regularity in judicial proceedings.” Glen Mills, 520 A.2d at 1382.
This Court was not asked to determine whether Fitzpatrick was entitled to her stay but, rather, whether the lower courts act of granting her stay presented an “extreme necessity for relief.” Glen Mills, 520 A.2d at 1382.
The lower courts had, indeed, found that Fitzpatrick was entitled to her stay, which required that she establish that she was likely to prevail on the merits; that she would suffer irreparable injury if she had not been granted a stay; that the issuance of a stay will not substantially harm other interested parties in the proceedings; and, that the issuance of a stay will not adversely affect the public interest. Reading Anthracite, 577 A.2d at 884.
The fundamental difference between the concurrence and the dissent in this case concerns the question of whether the stay would substantially harm other interested parties and whether the stay would jeopardize the public interest. Because I believe that removing a name from a ballot substantially harms the interests of the voters by removing their right to choose, I saw no reason to exercise this Court’s extraordinary jurisdiction.
*518The longstanding and overriding policy in this Commonwealth is to protect the elective franchise. Petition of Cioppa, 533 Pa. 564, 626 A.2d 146, 148 (Pa.l993)(colleeting cases). In so doing, the Election Code should be liberally construed so as not to deprive a candidate of the right to run for office or the voters of their right to elect a candidate of their choice. Cioppa, 626 A.2d at 148; see also In re Nomination of Flaherty, 564 Pa. 671, 770 A.2d 327, 331 (Pa.2001); In re Nomination Petition of Wesley, 536 Pa. 609, 640 A.2d 1247, 1249 (Pa.1994).
Because I saw no extreme necessity for relief under Glen Mills, and because leaving Fitzpatrick’s name on the ballot best protected the elective franchise, as commanded by Cioppa, declining to exercise this Court’s extraordinary jurisdiction was the proper course to follow. In this case the voters would suffer substantial harm in that they would not have an opportunity to vote the full range of potential candidates. The public interest would be harmed far more by an intervention in the election and appeal process.

. 25 P.S. § 2600 et seq., Act of June 3, 1937, P.L. 1333, No. 320.

. This Court’s extraordinary jurisdiction is found at:
42 Pa.C.S. § 726. Extraordinary jurisdiction *516Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Supreme Court may, on its own motion or upon petition of any party, in any matter pending before any court or district justice of this Commonwealth involving an issue of immediate public importance, assume plenary jurisdiction of such matter at any stage thereof and enter a final order or otherwise cause right and justice to be done.
Extraordinary jurisdiction under Section 726 enables this Court to assume plenary jurisdiction of a matter pending before a court or district justice at any stage. In re Avellino, 547 Pa. 385, 690 A.2d 1138, 1141 (Pa. 1997).