For years, I’ve knocked thousands of doors all over Pennsylvania and poured my heart and soul into supporting candidates and causes that make a difference—from local school board races to national elections. The personal is political, and I take every election in Pennsylvania personally.

Where the mainstream media has failed you, I will give you truth and independence. You’ll hear from Democratic leaders, candidates, and change-makers who are working to improve the health of the Commonwealth, and it won’t be boring as hell.

No matter where you are, I’ll meet you with hope and a plan to make your community better one day at a time. Welcome to the Zekely Podcast. Let’s talk Pennsylvania.

Thank you, Zeke. Thank you for having me.

I'm super excited you're here. You know, I'm collecting judges right now on my podcast. I'm trying to have all the judges running for election that everyone in the Commonwealth can vote for

running for retention. So I'm super happy you agreed to be on here.

pleasure. again. Thanks for having me.

Absolutely, well we're gonna learn all about you play some games. Let's get right into it, okay?

Sounds good.

All right, so you deal with zoning a lot in the Commonwealth Court, correct? All right, and for people who don't know, zoning is a system of land use regulations that kind of controls how property is used within certain areas of the state. So we're gonna play a game called Let's Name the Zones. Have you ever watched Finding Nemo? Know that movie?

Yes we do.

I have.

Let's name the

I have.

zones, the zones, the zones. Let's name the zones of the judiciary. Because I think most people don't really understand the judicial system in Pennsylvania, which is shaped like a pyramid. And the Supreme Court's at the top. Then you have the Commonwealth Court and the Superior Courts, which are the next zone. Then you have the Court of Common Pleas and then the limited jurisdiction courts, like the Municipal and Magisterial Courts. So we're gonna play a game where I'm gonna give you some issues.

Correct.

that someone might deal with and you're going to tell me the zone of which court that is, okay?

So

should I call you Mr. Ray for this?

Yes, you should. Absolutely.

I will be Mr. Ray. That's such a great movie. I love it. All right. So which zone of the PA judiciary would a child custody case be heard?

Initially, would be heard as a court of common pleas First round of appeals would be held in Superior Court. And then

there is an issue of importance, of statewide importance, the Supreme Court may take it.

Mm-hmm.

Perfect, you got that correct.

What about which zone of the PA judiciary would a traffic violation case be heard?

they would start with the probably Majesterial District Justices or the Philly Municipal Court, then work its way up on appeal through common

Mm-hmm.

Supreme Court gets all the, they get to pick most of their cases. So they could take a traffic ticket case.

Gotcha.

I'd have to be a pretty bad one to get to the Supreme Court.

Or a pretty weird one.

Well, which zone of the PA judiciary would an election dispute case be heard?

is in my sweet spot, Zeke, so thank you. Generally, like election day issues, they typically would go to common pleas court depending on which county the issue arises.

There you go.

or it could be with my court, Commonwealth

And there are some issues sometimes in our process called King's Bench, where the Supreme Court could grab the case. And technically they could grab any case at any

I didn't know they could.

Those are

That's I've never heard. I didn't know they could do that in Pennsylvania.

They're like,

like, it's a very interesting element. It's a vestige of the British common law, which, you

I

That is very interesting. That's a quick grab. there a name for that? Like a special name when you get poached? King's Bench. So if you get King's Benched you're done with that case. It's Supreme Court.

King's bench, King's bench. Yep.

There's

a procedure called, you would file an application for King's bench in Supreme Court and the vast majority of them are denied. But every once in a and I guess every once in a green moon, they'll grab one and take it up there. But it's gotta be like a very, very important case, a case that has just massive, massive statewide implications.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

very interesting. Well, which zone of the PA judiciary would review a death penalty case?

Okay, those are the sweet spot of Supreme Court. Ultimately, Superior Court occasionally gets in those as well. Thankfully,

Okay.

not Commonwealth Court jurisdiction. those are tough, tough cases.

Yeah, yeah, you don't have to deal with that.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. Here's the last one. Which zone of the peer judiciary would an appeal for child support be heard?

Okay, again, those would start with courts of common pleas, typically family division, and go up through the superior court side and into Supreme Court, again, if it's a big enough issue. ⁓ Again, I'm thankful that that's not my area of expertise.

Mm-hmm.

I'm the boring government guy.

yeah,

I never enjoyed pediatric cases when I was studying to be a doctor. You know, there were just certain, you know, fields of medicine I didn't enjoy. And so I can imagine as a judge, there are certain parts of the judicial system you just don't enjoy.

Well, thank you for playing Let's Name the Zones of the Judiciary with Ray Zeke on the Zekely

Well, you've served honorably for 10 years in the Commonwealth Court. Why have you decided to run for retention for another 10 years?

I don't think my service is done yet. I really, really enjoy my job. I've gotten to meet a lot of very interesting colleagues on my court. I've gotten to come across many, many very interesting, exciting issues. When you talk about zoning like we just talked about in our little game, that tends to get folks, the normal people, shall we say, their eyes glaze over.

huh.

Like

you interviewed a dear friend of mine recently, Judge Brandon Neuman

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Brandon I know in Washington County, he may get some of those cases. I don't know how he feels about them. I love them. I love state agency cases, but I'm a municipal lawyer at heart. was County Solicitor in Allegheny County for about eight years. And this is just something that I've absolutely loved doing and I'm good at it.

Mm-hmm.

I think I'm making a difference and I want to keep doing it. I just turned 60 last year, so I have potentially another 15 years on the court if the voters say so. Well, thank you. I don't feel young sometimes.

Yeah, you're young.

You are.

I I work with cardiac surgery patients every day and I can tell you 60 is young. You have a long way to go. So I'm really happy that you are running for retention. Absolutely.

Thank you.

From your lips Zeke

when you were in private practice as an attorney, which type of law was your favorite and least favorite to practice?

I think my favorite, favorite area of law, because number one, it's so important. And number two, it's so fast paced as election law.

And we serve the Commonwealth as the initial gatekeeper, if you will. If folks file their petitions to get on the ballot in Harrisburg, then any objections to those petitions are filed in our court. And those have to be done like lightning fast, and they have to be processed. It's very fast-paced. It's very, very critical.

Mm-hmm.

to get these things done quickly.

But we have to basically hear these cases, get the opinions out so that the parties who are disappointed, the losers in another way, have an absolute right to one level of appeal to the Supreme

And then we also do all the cases

during and immediately after the election, usually on an initial trial basis. If the Commonwealth is a party, like if they sue the Secretary of the Commonwealth, or if they sue the governor or the general assembly, those come to us as a trial court.

And I just love those because they're so fast paced. They're really, really interesting.

He came up to the judge, I have just one piece of advice. Quit smiling. You look like you're liking this too much. You gotta have a better poker face. I'm like, I can't, James, this is just so cool.

Yeah.

That's great. That's how you want to feel about when you're working in a job and protecting the integrity of elections in any state. mean, that's the bedrock of democracy. I mean, that must mean a lot to you to protect the democratic process and make sure that it is streamlined and done fairly and efficiently and also to just be that

So that, that, yeah.

that overseeing eye and keep it fair and balanced.

It is, it's a tremendous responsibility, but it's one that I embrace. I love doing the work and I love the importance of it. And, know, with the voters' goodwill, I'll be doing it for another 10 years, at least.

Mm-hmm.

I can't wait to vote for you and I hope that people who listen to this and get to know you will understand why it's important that you get re-elected.

Thank you.

Thank you. The second part of your question, the least

favorite, domestic relations and

just heartbreaking, heartbreaking cases. They're all good people on their worst days. And it's just something that I don't have the professional capacity, shall we say, for. It's just not what I'm wired to do. Kind like you with peds.

Yeah.

Yeah, I you have to know yourself, you know, and those are difficult cases probably and you just, you can't take those things home with you all the time. I'm sure that they probably weighed on you, you know. At least with pediatric cases they weighed on me, especially when there were bad outcomes. I just can't handle bad things happening to kids. And so for you, I totally understand.

So, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

All right, let's do a rapid fire round, okay?

where I'm gonna just give you a couple things, you're gonna tell me a response, all right? So what is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate, okay? Just straight chocolate, nothing fancy about it? Okay.

Okay.

chocolate.

Just straight chocolate. Nothing

simple to the point. Stains my white shirts. It's perfect.

⁓

Perfect. Alright, what about what's your favorite reality TV show?

Hmm. you know, my wife and I just started watching below the decks. I think that's really

here we

it's just, we used to really enjoy cruising when our kids were younger, cause you know, we both really had high pressure jobs on big cruise lines. We wondered what it'd be like to be on a smaller boat like that.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

definitely my wife loves all shows Bravo. So there's a constant stream of, you know, Real Housewives. She just got done binging Love Island. ⁓ So be wary if you get dragged into Love Island, okay?

Okay.

Yeah, I watched that.

What is your favorite genre of music?

I'm a big 80s guy. We have we have sirius XM radio because if you're if you don't know the way we get these jobs, we have to run statewide.

Ladies.

Pennsylvania is a big big state and you really don't get the same radio stations throughout, so I like to tune into the satelite radio. I went to college in the 80s. I got hooked on that music back in the day. Used to have a mullet, not much there

Yeah.

Gotcha.

⁓

Don't look on the internet for this. There's one particular picture out there from college when I played volleyball. It's out there. People get... Yeah.

⁓ I'm gonna have to find that for sure. I

mean, I think maybe you should get that put on your shirt and sell it, you know, for fundraising purposes.

It's kind of terrifying. Kind of terrifying.

And last question here. What is your favorite social media platform? None.

None.

I despise social media. ⁓ It's difficult for us to be involved. So I kind of lurk to see what's going on. read news on what used to be called Twitter. I read news on Blue Sky. Dabble around in threads off of Facebook. My daughter's trying to get me into Instagram, but I don't know about that.

goodness.

Mm-hmm.

Uh-huh.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

It is true. You're not wrong. I mean, I'm a big TikToker. I love Tik Tok because I learn so much. But there are definitely bad sides to social media for sure. But I feel like in many ways, the bad actors have kind of claimed that space and I'm trying to push a better narrative. You know, it's not easy. you definitely are. And again, I have a freestanding website that I had developed so that people don't have to be in the algorithm at

That's admirable. You'll the algorithm.

but certainly there are a lot of good people out there trying to push back against the negative information out there. I agree with you.

It's difficult as a sitting judge to be active on social media because there's many dangers there. And as I like to tell folks, I speak in orders. And I write an opinion, but everything else other than that, I can't really say much. And I don't want to because,

Yeah. I would agree, yeah.

huh. Yeah.

Right. That's right. You are

dea- I think it would be extremely interesting if a judge was very popular on social media all of a sudden. Probably wouldn't last that long as a judge, I would assume.

Yep, they'll be bad for retention year.

Very true.

what is a notable case that came directly to you on the Commonwealth Court? Because I know a lot of times has to make its way up through the lower courts, but is there something in your mind that just got directly to you that you think about?

you know, I have, I pulled together a list of like my top 15 cases for the Pennsylvania Bar Association when I'm seeking their recommendation. I thought long and hard about this. There are all these ones that were really in depth, which is very, arcane. Things turn on a comma or a semicolon or an dash.

Mm-hmm.

And we're really, really big on

Oxford comma. That means a lot to us. I know it doesn't mean a lot to a lot of folks, but to judges on Commonwealth Court, when we dig down into that minutiae, that's our lives. But really, I think the case that I think is the most important for the development of me as a judge,

Okay.

It happened in my first year.

When it dealt with a young boy who was involved in an accident in his gym class in the school district of Philadelphia and he was running in a race in the gym back and forth and he slipped and stumbled and hit his head on the wall and got a pretty significant head injury. And there is a. Shall we say interesting provision on a law called political subdivision?

This is a real estate exemption because, you know, it was in a gym and we had this weird precedent from maybe 20 years ago and it all turns on whether there is an improvement of the property or an improvement on the property. And if it is an improvement of the property, it's exempt. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. This is how, this is how in depth it gets. If it's an improvement.

Mm-hmm.

Is this where the Oxford, this is the Oxford comma coming in here now? Yeah. Uh-huh.

Of the property it's it's

Immune, but if it's on the property, it's not immune and one of my colleagues who has since passed wrote a what we call a presidential opinion. It's binding authority for the state where they were doing in a gym class. So similar facts. A gymnastic routine and there was a mat that moved. And they said, well, that's an improvement.

Of the property, so they're immune. And the argument here was all they had to do was fix. A pad to the wall. And that's an improvement of the property, isn't it? But it wasn't. It was a lack of an improvement. So I basically took this

of the property, yeah.

Okay.

Tragic tragic case. And worked its way through and actually convinced my colleagues.

to change the precedent in this instance. And so where the trial court below said,

family can't sue the school district and make a recovery here, they're out of court. And he's stuck with these terrible, terrible damages. We changed the law and at least they had a shot in court. So the case survived. I really didn't follow it after that to see, it didn't come back up to us. And it's not something that I'm in the habit of doing after a case.

Yeah.

is heard in our court, what happens afterwards. But I was very proud of that because I was able to change the law and at least give someone a chance where I really thought the provided an injustice. He should at least have an opportunity to make his case and seek a recovery where it was clear to me that the school district let him down.

your ruling on this specific case essentially gave a family the ability to seek damages from a terrible accident that happened from the school district essentially.

Correct.

Correct. All between all because how you interpret the word of as opposed to on. Yeah.

of or on Oxford comma.

wrote the opinion. It's a published opinion. And my then clerk who helped me work that out gave that to me.

framed after she retired. So I was very proud of that.

⁓

I didn't know that you could get opinions framed like that. That's very because I went in my mind I think of opinions of like 50 60 pages, know, just opinion just just just the front page. Okay. I Know that'd be crazy was the whole thing

Just the front page. Just the front page. Yeah. That'd be a lot of frames if you got the whole opinion.

Well you sit on the board of directors of Boy Scouts and you are also an Eagle Scout, correct?

Yes,

I used to be on the board. I've unfortunately had to give that up a few years ago because the travel on this job is sometimes can be crushing particularly post COVID, but go on

Yeah, hectic. Yeah.

I am also an Eagle Scout. So it's nice to talk to a fellow Eagle Scout.

We had to earn merit badges back in the day. I have very fond memories of Eagle, of Boy Scouts. I loved it, as I'm sure you did as well. So I've come up with some new merit badges. I want you to let me know what you think of them. OK, so these are like new age.

Yes. Okay.

merit badges that that maybe Boy Scouts will add once they hear this podcast. So one of them is the social media merit badge. Okay. So yeah, I think that's one of them. But you can only earn it after you've made five viral videos. Okay. So that those are the requirements. You think that's reasonable? Five? Maybe ten? Ten?

I was afraid you were going to say that.

Well,

okay, now what's the standard for it being viral? Does it have to... how many... how many hits?

I think

there actually is a definition for what a viral video is. I feel like it's at least a couple million views. Yeah, has to be a couple million. Reasonable?

Okay.

Well, I'm going to quibble with the whole concept of a social media, but I understand it is the 21st century. I would rather the social media be maybe a campfire or building an outdoor, like a wilderness survival merit badge type thing. given your premise, Zeke, I will accept five. Five seems adequate.

Uh-huh. ⁓

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah,

I'm trying to like bring something new to the table, you know?

Just

don't make that required for Eagle.

Okay, fine. Fair enough. What about a chat GPT merit badge, but you can only earn it after you successfully pass five school or work assignments without raising any suspicions?

That seems like it would

on some of the Scout laws, maybe trustworthy, you know?

Yeah, you're probably right. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, maybe just like use it to review what you write, like to pick out any spelling errors or something. Mm-hmm.

Maybe, maybe. I know that's all the rage now.

I can't imagine that anyone on the Commonwealth Court is using a chat GPT to write their opinions. I feel like that.

I certainly am not. I do know that some folks

in the judiciary use it to review opinions and review briefs. And I know that there have been a number of lawyers who have used the tool, shall we say, to file briefs. And it's fun when you get those cases that are hallucinated, that don't exist.

huh, ⁓

Mm-hmm.

That would be so ridiculous. How embarrassing. All right, what about a cell phone storage merit badge? Now you may actually be able to get this one. You may agree with me on this. You can only earn it after you successfully manage your cell phone storage without having to offload more than five apps in a one month period.

Yeah. Yeah.

I like where you're starting from.

I like that. That should be required for Eagle. I'll approve that one.

Okay, fine. That one you approve of.

Okay, what about, here's the last one, a password merit badge where you earn it after successfully remembering all of your login information for five consecutive weeks without needing to reset any of them or get a reminder. I know, I certainly wouldn't earn it, I know. It would be like, you the top shelf merit badge to earn, you know, very, very difficult and, you know, you would covet that merit badge.

No one will earn that merit badge, Zeke.

Yeah. There's like,

what was it? Farm equipment, think. Farm machinery was like one of the few merit badges like 60 boys would earn it in any given year. It just turned out that our scout master was a farmer and that was one of the merit badges that he would counsel on. So we would take a trip and like everyone in our troop would earn this merit badge. So we were like 15 of the 60 every year who would earn that.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

⁓ yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

That's kind of where this one would be, I would think.

Yeah, more. I still think more people would earn the farming merit badge than the password merit badge.

have you ever had to recuse yourself from hearing a case?

twice.

very bad appearance there. It would not look good. So I, as they say, tapped out of that one. And then the second one was dealing with a municipality in Cambria County where my brother-in-law happened to be the mayor.

So I thought, well, I shouldn't be involved in this one.

well that would make sense.

That is very honorable to tap out.

no one can tell you to stay on a case or if you don't want to do it.

but a party if they think you can't

Fair, if you can't be impartial or if you have a conflict, they can file an application for recusal and I tell

Okay.

You know those can be used strategically. So shall we say if they don't like a particular judge they want to get him off or her off the case they will file that. But those are things that should should not be taken lightly.

know, recusal is something that I look at very seriously from both sides. If I need to recuse from a case, I

But by the same token, I think if a judge shouldn't recuse from a case, they shouldn't. I mean, we ran for these offices, we took an oath, we're obligated to hear the case, unless there is some impediment there that the the code of judicial conduct or the judicial cannons say we shouldn't do it. And I will not recuse from a case just because it's hard or it's got a political undertow.

perhaps I, I ruled on a couple of cases against the sitting governor who happened to be a member of my party. and you know, that's what we have to do. We, we follow the law. The law is the law. Yeah. We.

Yeah, yeah, it sounds like

it sounds like you you pull from the ethical place when it comes to recusals and and not like the substance of the case.

Yes.

Correct.

Well, do you have a specific type of robe you wear based on your mood or season?

because we travel, we have basically three courtrooms, one in Pittsburgh, one in Harrisburg, one in Philadelphia.

So I have a robe in each city and they are all identical.

Okay, so you have, you have, literally have robes waiting in the cities for you. Interesting.

Yeah, because it's

such, I mean, when you're always traveling,

it's such a nightmare to get everything else plus a robe. And the court made a decision many years ago, it's so much more efficient because if you're dragging this robe, you you drag it out to your car, you drag it to the hotel, you drag it to the courtroom, you drag it back to the hotel, you drag it home, it really doesn't make

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

what I want to do though, because I'm a Pittsburgh and a fan of everything black and gold. There's all the robes have a little black braid on the back. If I have successful retention.

huh.

Okay.

I'm gonna get a robe that's black and yellow, black and gold, and put it on.

Uh-huh.

I think you will totally deserve that. That that flair will mean something to you. I as I'm sure you know, Judge Stella Tsai is running for Commonwealth Court. And I hope that you'll be excited for her to join the Commonwealth Court with you after November. And she is hilarious. She when she was on the podcast, she said that sometimes she uses her kids graduation robes when she has to jump on to Zoom meetings. I just thought that was hilarious.

I have heard that.

Yeah, I'm 6'3, 280. I don't think I'd fit in my kid's graduation robes. That would be problematic.

Yeah,

you are a member of the American, Pennsylvania,

County Bar Association, correct? So we're gonna play a game called Raise the Bar. So if you agree with these initiatives, you just agree by raising the bar. So ensure that all children in the Commonwealth have access to public education in an equitable fashion

Yes I am.

So we have a case on that, William Penn. I voted yes on that, so there's your answer.

There go. I like it. I would agree with you as well. What about ensure that consumers are charged fairly for utilities in the Commonwealth?

We have a body of case law as well through our PUC claims that is consistent with that. So I would agree with both our precedent and your proposition.

Perfect. And lastly, would you raise the bar for ensuring that the elderly in the Commonwealth have quality standards in nursing homes?

It is so important. I don't know if you knew this, but Allegheny County is the second oldest county in the country.

second behind Miami-Dade. So we have a tremendously high proportion of senior citizens here. And because of the economic issues, shall we say, with the decline of the steel industry and heavy industry back in the

I did not know that.

a lot of those elderly really were left on the lower end of the economic scale.

And I'm concerned based on what is happening at the national level with a lot of funding streams. So I can't go beyond that Zeke, but I'll just say that I have my fingers crossed. I'm saying my prayers and I'm hoping that we'll get through this.

Mm-hmm.

I hope so too. And a big reason why I'm doing the podcast is to make sure that judges like you get retained and protect the backstop to our rights. It's extremely important.

Thank you for that.

Well, the time has arrived, Mike, for you to play Am I Lying? OK, I only play this game with judicial candidates, OK, because you as a judge are like a human lie detector. OK, now, so far, none of the judicial candidates have gotten every question correct. So you could be the first. OK.

Are you under oath?

So I'm gonna,

well, I mean, no, because I might be lying to you. It will be a lot easier, yes. So I'm gonna give you some statements and you're gonna say, am I lying or am I telling the truth?

Okay.

be a lot easier, Zeke.

so the first job that I ever had was working at a drive-in movie theater. Am I lying or am I telling the

a drive-in movie theater. And if I may ask, Zeke, when were you born? You're lying.

lying, I am lying. Yes, that is, you are correct. I worked at an Orange Julius as my first job. For those, I think they still exist. They're not as prominent as they used to be. feel like Smoothie King kind of took over. But yeah, I worked at an Orange Julius at Park City Mall in Lancaster County. That was my first job. But I did enjoy going to drive and movie theaters as a kid. I grew up in.

Yeah? wow.

the sticks in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And, you know, we went to drive and movie theaters all the time, but I did not ever work with one.

Okay. Did you ever, did you ever yourself as a licensed driver drive to a drive-in movie theater?

Yes, yeah I

brought my kids to a drive-in movie theater. think once in upstate New York I took my kids, ET was playing and we I took all the kids to see ET. It's just so much fun you know it's just just really when it gets dark and the weather's nice and the funnel cakes and the deep-fried Oreos and you can't go wrong, can't go wrong. All right you got you got the first one right okay uh second one I want a Viking burial. Am I lying or is that

wow.

Yeah.

Love it. All right. You want a

Viking burial. So you want to be buried at sea with a flaming arrow shot at you.

I want a Viking belt. Is that true or is false?

that true or is that false?

So your first name is Zeke, your last name is Tayler you're physician. I think, where'd you go, med school?

The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Lekom, yep, LECOM That is true. Very, very good. Yeah, my wife, I don't think will let it happen, but I just think there's just something so epic about your family member standing at the edge of a lake and the bagpipe music playing and the fiery arrow. mean, it just seems so cool.

Leecom. Okay. I'll say that's true. Okay.

She's wise.

So wait,

the bagpipes are not Vikings.

I know they're not, but I just feel like I get so emotional when I hear bagpipes, so there might be some mixing in there. Okay, or the horns, something. But yeah, I would like a Viking burial, but I guarantee my wife is not gonna let it happen, because she will outlive me for sure. All right, here's the next one. Yeah, she will. I once won a local hot dog eating contest. Is that true or false?

You need the horns. You need the horns. Yeah. Yeah.

They always do.

This is a tough one. Because you don't look like the kind of individual who would win a hot dog eating contest. But I think you did. ⁓

That's false.

Oh, you almost had it. That's false. I have never competed in a hot, I love to eat, but I don't have the best taste buds, but I do love to eat almost anything. I know, I know, but you have to dunk it in like glasses of water to like really get them down fast. You know, I do like to enjoy my food a little bit. All right, here's a couple more. I keep the thermostat reading in my house at 75 degrees during the summer. True or false? That is true.

So close.

Well that's perfect for a hot dog eating contest. You don't need taste buds.

I would say true.

Much to my chagrin, honestly, my wife is always cold. Like always cold. She'll wear sweatpants and a hoodie in the summertime, only 90 degrees outside. So it is 75 degrees in my house during the summertime. And we do save some money on our electric bill, but my gosh, it could be 10 degrees cooler, I'd be totally.

So what's the winner reading? 74.

74.

Ha

There you go.

I think that's true.

I hate, you know, because I couldn't scratch my nose whenever I wanted to. I had to stand there for hours with a retractor and my nose would itch and I'd sweat. No way. So I did anesthesia and I love it. So I exactly. Well, thanks

Scratch your nose, you've got a scrub out.

for playing. Am I lying? Still undefeated on my end. You know, we'll we'll see how the next judge does.

So, Mike, how would you motivate someone to become more aware of these important judicial races coming up in November?

we, on the state judiciary, particularly the five of us who are running for retention and actually my dear friend Justice Kevin Brabson would smack me.

Technically, we don't run for retention because it's an uncontested race. We stand for retention. It's a yes, no vote. So stand for retention.

those issues are. And it's not just about abortion. It's about many, many, many things other than just that one small issue, which is, you know, we can talk about on maybe two or three other podcasts that much time, but,

Absolutely.

We're the last line of defense, frankly, and we're fiercely

once you lose

the judiciary's independence, then people become above the

I think I would tell folks is, you know, this court, the Supreme Court, my court, we're all jealously independent. We guard what we believe is the most important thing in our Commonwealth from our perspective, which is the Constitution that guides us.

And we approach our job honestly and we rule without fear or favor. And I think that's what you want in judges and I think if that's what you want and that's what we need, vote yes for all five of us and on any common please judge that's on your ballot as well this year because they're all doing a great job too.

Yeah.

Yeah, you, as I've said before, you are the backstop to our rights. You're the last line of defense.

And we really need to get that message out there and get people more engaged in politics in general. and we need to pay attention because not everyone cares about the law and protecting it as much as I'm sure you do and other people running for standing for retention.

Yes.

some people say that interpreting the law shouldn't be a partisan issue. But history has shown us time and time again that political ideologies sometimes influence decisions in a judicial system. So you are being endorsed by the Democratic Party. How does being a Democrat influence your interpretations of the law?

you know, I'm probably a dying breed now. I'm a Roosevelt Democrat, a Franklin Delano Roosevelt Democrat, because my dad was a union coal miner for his whole life. I'm only here because he was a member of the union. He got a great job.

healthcare, and that's something that's incredibly important to me. And that's something that, you know, I will protect every chance I can get. However, there's something more important to me and that's what the law is. And I try not to, and I think I do a really good job of this. I try not to let my political positions interfere with my judicial

Yeah, I definitely think that since it is a partisan way that you do run for judiciary, and again, standing for retention, you are being endorsed by a political party. I think that at the core, it's just the ideology. I have no doubt that judges who sit on the bench abide by protecting the Constitution, but certainly they bring an ideology to those interpretations. Like you said, you were raised by a father who was part of a union.

yes.

And those ideologies to protect unions are not a universal ideology across the political spectrum.

Zeke, I would say it's not an ideology. I would say it's a perspective. I would say it's a lived experience. And we all bring different experiences to this job. And that's what's so wonderful about it. We have judges on my court from all across the Commonwealth. We have judges from rural areas. We have judges from suburban Philadelphia. Two of our finest judges come from Allegheny County, which is one of the finest parts of the Commonwealth.

Wink, nod, nod.

Yes, exactly.

But we all bring different experiences and there have been times where I've been dead set I'm like, no, this is your position is completely wrong. Then I hear their perspective and I rethink my perspective. I think that's how

get things done properly. There's not enough of that these days.

Yeah, well I'm,

I agree. I'm at least grateful that you are being endorsed by the Democratic Party because I believe your life experiences and your perspectives are important to have while sitting on a very high bench in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Thank you.

in an unprecedented fashion, Trump and Republicans in Congress are threatening to impeach judges they don't like. Do you feel like your role as a judge is even more important in the face of these attacks on the judiciary?

You mentioned Stella Tsai before. She talks about this frequently about we need to be able to rule.

without fear or favor.

You're not gonna intimidate us. You're not gonna push us around. We have a solemn obligation. We took an oath. And believe it or not, we take those oaths seriously.

Good.

we've had to engage retired state troopers as security. We haven't had that before, but because of that's been waged against and lodged against the, court and general, and some of us in particular.

We've seen fit have to do that. it's a difficult time to do this job. There are real threats that have been made against us, particularly on my court and the Supreme, the Pennsylvania Supreme court, where we deal with very controversial issues. On the, if you look at the pyramid, like we talked about to open the podcast, a lot of the stuff there on our side of the pyramid are the most.

Difficult cases, most cases people feel most passionate about. You the whole COVID era of cases came through our court, the election cases, government rights, government responsibilities, taking away people's voting rights or driver's licenses or.

professional licenses, those all come to our court. So it's very, very passionate stuff. But we all do this job, like I said, without fear or favor, and we try to do the best job we can. And we're all able to go to sleep at night. So I think we're doing a fine job.

I think you are too and I'm glad that you are not going to be pushed around and do the right thing.

Looking ahead, what kind of legacy do you hope to leave in Pennsylvania in the judiciary?

after I'd won, I just thought about how, you know, my dad dropped out of school after, he finished grade eight, uh, to make money for the family. and he always valued, education. He went through the depression. He was a world war two Vet and so when I was doing my speech, I did a section there when I said, I just want to make sure.

my mom and dad are proud of me. And so I think more than anything else, want them to be proud of me. I want my wife and I want my kids to be proud of me. So I think I'm getting there.

Absolutely.

That's a great legacy to aspire to.

Mike, what gives you hope?

What gives me hope? I think that there are good people out there and the good people are still fighting the good fight and we're engaged and we're recognizing that we're in a dark time

always darkest before dawn and I think we're getting close to dawn. And what gives me hope is that we'll be able to convince these folks that this November is a very important time for us.

All five of us are standing for retention this year. Just got our ratings from the Pennsylvania Bar

recommend you to look at the little write-ups that they wrote for each of us. I think they encapsulate each of us uniquely.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well on my website, the ZekelyPodcast.com I have pictures of each of you who are standing for retention. And you can click on your websites and learn all about you. And I'm definitely going to have this interview up there. So yes, you should all check out all the judges.

Fabulous.

What plans do you have to get yourself through these next few years?

Okay, so my wife is nearing the end of her delivery days as an obstetrician. So our plans are to enjoy her professional life without call. And if you know anything about OBs, know, they have brutal brutal call schedules.

Mm-hmm.

There you go. god. Yeah. It is

brutal.

So we're looking forward to that. We're looking forward to seeing more of the country, seeing more of the world. We're empty nesters, both of our children are out of the house. So we have time for ourselves and we're going to take advantage of that. We have a couple big trips planned in the not too distant and middle distant future. So get us through this retention and

Yeah.

looking forward to that. And another thing is I'd like really like to see that seventh Super Bowl for the Steelers. I don't know if it's going to be this year, you know, the everlasting optimism of false hope with Aaron Rodgers may come through.

Okay, all right.

Yeah.

Hope springs eternal.

how can people support your campaign?

Well, in a number of ways. Number one, most importantly, vote yes. Vote by mail and get it and make sure your vote gets counted. But more importantly, tell your friends, tell your neighbors how important this is. We kind of labor in obscurity. We win an election and we disappear for 10 years. They kind of put us in a box.

with a black robe and we make these decisions and they're incredibly important decisions. It's hard work, but it's work that we absolutely love. So if folks could just spread the word, go to the different events where the judicial candidates may be, hear them, engage with them, talk to the campaigns and just spread the word. mean, it's not the sexiest of political issues.

It's not the sexiest campaign, but it's an incredibly important campaign.

Of course I would find that sexy. Yes, of course. Well, Judge Michael Wojcik standing for retention, the Commonwealth Court in Pennsylvania, every single person who was an eligible voter in Pennsylvania

is going to be able to vote for you this November 4th. It is a consequential election. We all have to pay attention and I can't wait to vote for you. And I'm going to tell all my friends and all my family members to get out and vote this November 4th. And I'm sure we're going to cross paths again. But thank you so much for standing for retention to protect the backstop to our rights. I'm just so grateful you're

That's correct.

you, Zeke. Thank you for having me. And like I said, we we literally have billionaires attacking the Supreme Court retention candidates. We don't have billions, but we have something more important. We have people like you.

who have the passion and the desire to help us get there so we can provide that backstop. So thanks for your time.

Absolutely.

Well, thank you so much for joining me here on the Zekely podcast. Stay hopeful and get involved. And until next time, let's keep building a stronger Pennsylvania together.