Cramer wins senior judge status

The state Supreme Court has approved a former Fayette County magisterial district judge to serve as a senior judge.
Jesse Cramer, who served as a magistrate for 30 years, asked the court to certify him as a senior magisterial judge in February after the state Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) found that because he did not win reelection, he was ineligible to serve in that capacity.
Cramer’s magisterial district covered the areas of Belle Vernon, Washington Township, Fayette City and Jefferson Township before his district was consolidated with another to form a new district including 14 municipalities in Fayette County. Richard Kasunic II successfully ran for the office, which is now based in Star Junction.
Cramer appealed the AOPC ruling to the state Supreme Court through his attorneys, James T. Davis and Jack Purcell of Davis and Davis.
“We had argued on his behalf that he didn’t lose reelection because it was essentially a new district because of the radical redistricting,” Purcell said.
Davis said this is the first time he is aware of any former judge challenging the definition of the phrase “defeated for reelection.”
“This is a very significant decision by the court,” Davis said.
“I don’t think they’ve ever done this before.”
Purcell said the election results showed that Cramer had done very well in the municipalities that had traditionally been part of his service area, so it wasn’t as if he had been rejected by his district.
“Justice has prevailed,” Purcell said.
As a senior district judge, Cramer may be asked to fill in at a magistrate’s office in the event of a conflict of interest or vacancy, or if a magisterial district judge is incapacitated for any reason.
Senior judges may serve until the last day of the calendar year in which they turn 80.
“He’s very pleased with the Supreme Court decision and he looks forward to continuing to serve the public,” Davis said of Cramer.