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Abortion, climate change cases pending in Pa.’s highest courts

The state Supreme Court often has the final say on major policy decisions that affect virtually every Pennsylvanian, from no-excuse mail voting to the commonwealth’s congressional map.

However, the seven justices have few hard deadlines and can take years to render their opinions on critical issues.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court hears appeals from the state’s two lower appellate courts — Commonwealth and Superior — and has wide discretion about the cases it considers. When the court agrees to hear a case, it builds in months for appellants and petitioners to file briefs. It schedules oral arguments during only a handful of months each year and provides months for justices to write opinions, resulting in a long process.

Ben Geffen, a staff attorney at the Public Interest Law Center who has argued cases in front of the high court, says that the long wait time is not necessarily a detriment to the process considering the importance of the topics. 

“Often these are complicated cases that deserve careful consideration,” Geffen said. “It’s not always a bad thing for the courts to take their time to get it right.”

For time-sensitive topics like election questions, Geffen says that the courts usually issue decisions to meet major deadlines. But in other cases, the parties may wait months or even years for a resolution. 

Here are some of the major cases currently awaiting consideration or a decision. —Kate Huangpu, Spotlight PA

Abortion

In 2019, abortion providers sued the state, claiming a prohibition on Medicaid-funded abortions violates the Equal Rights Amendment and other provisions in the state constitution that target sex-based discrimination.

The case has slowly made its way through the appellate courts since then. Commonwealth Court dismissed the case in 2021, only for the state Supreme Court in early 2024 to reverse that ruling. 

It’s now back before the lower court, though one state Supreme Court justice noted this year that there’s “little doubt the issue eventually will make its way back” to the high court.

Climate change

The state Supreme Court has yet to schedule oral arguments in two cases that will determine the future of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a key climate change program.

Last November, Commonwealth Court struck down Pennsylvania’s participation in RGGI, which caps the amount of carbon that emitters within participating states’ borders can release. Former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf entered the program through an executive order, and the court found he overstepped his power by instituting what amounts to a tax.

The Shapiro administration appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court. The case is not on the 2024 calendar.

Gun control

Pennsylvania’s two most populous cities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, both have tried to legislate gun control on a local level. However, the state’s firearm preemption law bars local jurisdictions from creating gun control restrictions that are more stringent than those at the state level.

In Philadelphia, gun control advocates and the families of victims of gun violence sued the state, arguing that the increased violence as a result of the lack of gun control laws deprives residents of their right to life and liberty under the state constitution. 

In Pittsburgh, gun rights advocates argue that the city’s attempt to implement gun control laws infringes upon the preemption law. 

The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the Philadelphia case in September of last year and has yet to issue an opinion. The Pittsburgh case was placed on hold pending the decision of the Philly one, according to a spokesperson from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

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