In Philadelphia, there’s a little-known shortcut to the bench called the “magic seat.” These are judicial vacancies that appear when sitting judges quietly withdraw from retention elections. The Democratic City Committee (DCC) is then empowered to hand-pick replacements who are automatically added to the general election ballot.

Each of our organizations have long supported merit selection of judges, but our system of electing judges remains. While we will continue to advocate for merit selection, electing judges only works when voters and the organizations they trust have the chance to fully evaluate candidates. Magic seats sidestep voters’ opportunity to evaluate candidates for important roles.

This year, three judges stepped down — two from the Court of Common Pleas and one from Munic

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