Four Republican candidates for statewide judicial offices and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity visited Butler County on Friday as part of their 22-county campaign tour before Election Day on Tuesday.

Supreme Court judge candidate Carolyn Carluccio of Montgomery County, Superior Court judge candidates Maria Battista of Clarion County and Harry Smail Jr. of Westmoreland County, Commonwealth Court judge candidate Megan Martin of Cumberland County, and Garrity met with county GOP leaders and candidates at the office of the Dillon McCandless King Coulter and Graham law firm in Butler.

Garrity, who is running for reelection, joined the judicial candidates on the tour.

Attorney Tom King, the solicitor for the state Republican Party, hosted the gathering and encouraged all Republican voters to support the candidates.

Smail said he has been an attorney for 26 years and a Common Pleas Court judge in Westmoreland County since he was appointed in 2014 by Gov. Tom Corbett and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. He is currently serving a 10-year elected term as a civil court judge that began in 2016.

A graduate of Grove City College and Duquense School of Law, Smail said he worked as a parole and probation officer in Westmoreland County during the day while he attended law school at night. He said he also worked as a public defender.

Smail said 100 of his decisions have been appealed to higher courts, but none have been reversed. During the last seven years, he said he has presided over complex civil litigation.

“It’s about public service,” Smail said about his goal to join the Superior Court bench.

He said he has ruled in hundreds of cases during his career and has a good ability to analyze the law and maintain decorum in the courtroom. He said his experience enables him to evaluate appeals and qualifies him to serve as a “judge of judges”

Superior Court is one of two intermediate appellate courts in the state. The court hears criminal, civil and family cases that are appealed from trial courts, such as Common Pleas Court. The court consists of 15 judges. Currently, there are seven Democrats and seven Republicans that serve as judges. There are 2 vacancies in the upcoming election. One position is vacant and one current judge is retiring.

Battista has 15 years of experience in civil, criminal and administrative law, and is a former assistant district attorney and mediator.

She said she has five college degrees, including a doctoral degree in education leadership from the University of Pittsburgh and a law degree from Northern Ohio University.

“We need people who will uphold the law and Constitution,” Battista said.

She said 70% of the cases before Superior Court are appeals of criminal cases and most of the rest are family court appeals, and, as a mother of an autistic child, she said she understands families with special needs.

Superior Court is a “corrections court” that examines transcripts of lower court trials to make decisions, Battista said.

She has worked as an attorney for the departments of health and state, and as a hearing examiner who presided over hundreds of cases for the Department of Corrections.

“I have the broadest range of cases,” Battista said.

Martin said she has dedicated her entire 30-year legal career to public service. She said she has served in all three branches of state government, and as a civilian attorney for the Navy.

She said she served as a judicial law clerk, worked in the administration of governors Tom Ridge and Tom Corbett and is the only women to have served as the state Senate Parliamentarian, a position she held for more than 10 years

“I learned how government works from the top down,” Martin said.

She said she learned how the legislative process works while serving as Parliamentarian. Being unanimously elected to the position five times by the Senate proves she has a record of bipartisanship, she said.

For the Senate, Martin said she also decided legal appeals and drafted legal opinions on Right-to-Know Law issues, and none of her decisions were overturned by Commonwealth Court.

“My decisions were always grounded in the law,” Martin said.

She said appeals of cases involving state government actions are heard in Commonwealth Court, and judges must hold the state government accountable to avoid overreach.

“I will be a judge that will hold the Commonwealth accountable,” Martin said.

Commonwealth Court is comprised of nine judges. There are three Democratic and five Republican judges in the court. There is one vacancy open in the election.

The court presides over civil lawsuits against the state, including state and local governments, and regulatory agencies. Commonwealth Court acts as a trial court when lawsuits are filed by or against the state. Pennsylvania is the only state with such a court.

Carluccio has served as a Common Pleas Court judge in Montgomery County for 14 years and is the first female president judge in the county’s history. She said that court is one of the largest and busiest in the state.

She said the seven-judge Supreme Court is made up of four Democrats and two Republicans, and there is a vacancy due to the 2022 death of Chief Justice Max Baer. She said she would bring balance to the court as a Republican.

“I’m going to bring common sense to the court,” Carluccio said.

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the state and is responsible for interpreting the state’s laws and Constitution. Supreme Court justices review appeals from Commonwealth and Superior courts, and may intervene in lower court cases. The court also oversees the state’s judicial system, administers the bar exam and disciplines lawyers who violate ethics rules.

“Politics doesn’t belong in courts,” Carluccio said. “I’m not a politician. I’m a judge who applies the law and upholds our Constitution.”

She said she has served as president of the bar association and president of the state trial judges conference.

In addition, she said she is married and has three sons.