Appellate judges are elected for ten year terms, which begin the January following the election and end in January ten years later. If an appellate judge wishes to run for retention for another ten year term, the retention election would be held in the November preceding the expiration of the judge's term.  Appellate judges must retire at the end of the year in which they reach age 70.

According to the Pennsylvania Manual, "senior judges are ... both retired and former judges who, with their consent, are assigned to temporary judicial service by the Surpreme Court of Pennsylvania."  All judges seeking assignment must have served at least 10 years and not have been defeated for reelection or retention, or, in the case of judges who retired mandatorily at age 70, must have served at least five years.  Senior judges may serve until the last day of the year in which they reach the age of 78; however, judges appointed to senior status prior to the 2002 amendment to Rule 701 may serve until the end of the year inwhich they reach the age of 80.

The tables below identify the current appellate judges, when their terms expire, when they will be eligible to stand for retention, and when they will be subject to mandatory retirement.  Notations of "not eligible" mean that the justice cannot stand for retention, either because he or she will reach the mandatory retirement age before his or her next retention election would occur or because the justice was appointed to an interim vacancy and is elibile to serve only until the next regularly occurring election. The justices are listed in the order by which future vacancies will occur.

KEY: "County" indicates the individual's resident county at the time he/she was initially commissioned to the current office. "CJ" or "PJ" next to a name indicates a Chief Justice or President Judge, respectively. In the "Race" column, "C" denotes Caucasian, and "AA" denotes African American.

COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

The judges are listed in the order by which a future vacancy would occur.

KEY: "County" indicates the individual's resident county at the time he/she was initially commissioned to the current office. "CJ" or "PJ" next to a name indicates a Chief Justice or President Judge, respectively. In the "Race" column, "C" denotes Caucasian, and "AA" denotes African American.