During the three-plus years that I’ve been hosting this podcast, I’ve welcomed a diverse range of guests. They’ve exhibited demographic diversity, of course, but also other forms of diversity—including diversity of opinion and experience.

So I was embarrassed when I recently noticed that although I’ve interviewed more than a dozen current and former judges, only two have sat on state courts (and by the time I interviewed them, those judges—Rolando Acosta and Debra Wong Yang—had left the bench). Put another way, I have not, until today, hosted a sitting state-court judge—a considerable omission, considering the significance of state courts. As noted by the National Center for State Courts, “State courts play a critical role in our democracy, handling about 96 percent of all legal cases in the United States.”

I set out to remedy this gap—and was delighted when Justice David Wecht, a longtime friend, agreed to join me. He’s a timely guest: last month, he and two of his colleagues were reelected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, for which I named them Judges of the Week. Why? Their court is one of the most important state courts in the country—for reasons I discussed with Justice Wecht on the episode.

In our conversation, we also covered the justice’s interesting path to the Pennsylvania high court; why he believes young (and not-so-young) lawyers should get involved with their communities; certain unique features of the Pennsylvania Constitution, as well as its relationship to the U.S. Constitution; and, of course, his recent reelection to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Congratulations to Justice Wecht on his reelection—and thanks to him for joining me.

Show Notes:

* Justice David N. Wecht bio, The Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania

* Approach The Bench: Justice Wecht On Judicial Campaigns, by Cara Bayles and Steven Trader for Law360

* Law Day Shabbat: Address by Justice David Wecht, Temple Israel, Wilkes-Barre

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