Ex-Steelers Player Eyes Pennsylvania High Court
HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA/AP) - First Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin was convicted of playing politics out of her office.
Then Justice Seamus McCaffery resigned for distributing pornographic emails.
Now with the retirement of Chief Justice Ron Castille, voters will elect three new justices in 2015, and one of them could be Allegheny County Judge Dwayne Woodruff, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1979 to 1990.
"I definitely will be announcing," Woodruff told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Monday.
"I am out of town right now, but yes I will be announcing soon after I return next week."
By telephone, Woodruff confirmed that he will seek the Democratic nomination for state Supreme Court in the May primary
But he won't be alone.
Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge David Wecht is running, too.
"I'm running for this court because I love the law, and I love making fair decisions and doing justice. That's what I've dedicated my career to," Wecht said.
Woodruff and Wecht share well-known local names, but other local candidates are expected on the Democratic side, including Superior Court Judge Christine Donohue
On the Republican side, local candidates include Superior Court Judges John Bender, Cheryl Allen Craig, and Jackie Shogan.
Woodruff, who studied law at night while playing for the Steelers, says his work in family court on behalf of families and kids is more important than his football career.
"I'm not asking for that vote because of that as well. I'm asking for peoples' votes because of all the things I stand for and have been doing for the last ten years outside of football being on the bench," says Woodruff.
In this race, it's the first five minutes of the game -- candidates have until March to decide whether to run.
Woodruff played for a few years on the Steelers with Lynn Swann, who ran an unsuccessful campaign as a Republican against Rendell in 2006.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court currently has a 4-3 Republican majority, counting the empty seat held most recently by McCaffery, a Democrat.
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