Julianna Cooper

Lewisburg

Prior to Nov. 4, I will vote YES to retain our Supreme Court, Superior Court and Commonwealth Court judges and mail in my ballot. That is my right, granted by our commonwealth’s Constitution. So when I received fliers that were full of lies about our Supreme Court judges, I became concerned that my civil rights were being threatened.

The truth is, dark-money interests are trying to steal our courts. This is a coordinated attempt to mislead voters and politicize retention elections to tilt future rulings toward extremist priorities.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is our last line of defense against the federal government’s attack on our rights and freedoms. Our PA Constitution gives us voting rights, reproductive rights, free speech, the right to clean air and pure water and more. The judges that I am voting YES to retain adhere to our Constitution and follow the rule of law. They are endorsed and highly recommended by the PA Bar Association, a non-partisan organization that holds their members to the highest ethical and legal standards.

The misleading fliers I was mailed were paid for by Commonwealth Partners, a hyper-rightwing PAC mostly funded by billionaire Jeffery Yass, Pennsylvania’s richest man. Make no mistake, Trump’s billionaire backers are coming after our courts in order to squash our freedoms and civil rights.

Vote YES to retain all of our judges. Keeping experienced, fair-minded justices on the bench preserves stability, protects our constitutional rights and keeps the courts as a guardrail against political power grabs