This week, Judge Mark Cohen’s long, checkered judicial career came to an ignoble end. The Supreme Court denied his petition for certiorari to challenge the 2024 ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that he was properly suspended over a litany of partisan social media posts while a sitting judge.
Cohen is a former Democratic politician who ran unsuccessfully for Congress, but served for many years in the state House until defeated in 2016.
In 2018, Cohen successfully ran for the Court of Common Pleas. After receiving a “Not Recommended” rating from the Philadelphia Bar Association, he barely won the seat with the second-lowest vote total among the victors.
During this time on the bench, Cohen continued to maintain his political public persona with social media posts that many found injudicious and unethical. In October 2024, the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline took the rare step of ejecting him from the bench and suspending him without pay over his Facebook posts.
These posts included attacks on Republican policies and praise for Democrats such as Joe Biden, Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman. He also spoke out in favor of a variety of Democratic policies and union positions as well as commenting on issues ranging from abortion to gun control.
In one posting on September 22, 2022, Judge Cohen supported Philadelphia District Attorney Krasner, who has since been referred by a judge to the U.S. Attorney for possible criminal conduct:
“Philly DA Krasner, in a switch of tactics, now demands to testify before P[A] House Committee seeking evidence of wrongdoing to begin impeachment proceedings. Good move!” . . .
The irony for critics is obvious, since they have criticized Cohen as a Krasneresque judge who failed to observe proper lines of conduct.
On November 18, 2021, Judge Cohen attacked the Speaker of the House of Representatives: “Good night, Kevin McCarthy. Good night moon. No matter how long Kevin talks, we’ll have House passage of Build Back Better soon.”
His superiors on the Court warned him that such postings violated judicial standards, but Cohen continued to post under the name he was formerly referred to by his fellow judges.
After being suspended in 2024, the suspension was upheld this year by the highest court in the Commonwealth. In his concurrence, Justice David Wecht wrote:
“In an age of ubiquitous social media and heightened acrimony, it is imperative that jurists remain mindful and careful. They must avoid the type of partisan punditry and running online commentary on politics that poured forth continually from the keyboard of the judge involved in today’s case. People are free to do this sort of thing, but judges are people with an asterisk. A person who chooses to become a judge must park some portion of his or her First Amendment rights at the courthouse curb for the duration in which that judge is serving on the bench.”
In his U.S. Supreme Court challenge, Cohen argued that the lower courts erred in failing to apply a strict scrutiny test to his speech as opposed to the balancing test under Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968). We have previously discussed the use of Pickering in the limitation of speech of public employees.
Under Pickering, when a judge “speaks on a matter of public concern, then the court must balance the Commonwealth’s interest in preserving the efficient administration of justice against the judge’s interest in making the statement.”
In my book, The Indispensable Right, I discuss how judges in the early Republic were much like Cohen, openly partisan and using their office to herald the accomplishments of one party while denouncing the other. One of the most significant factors in creating our modern judiciary was adopting judicial ethics rules against such partisan statements and conduct. For critics, Judge Cohen appears to have waged a one-judge war to reinstate the “good old days” of partisan jurists.
What is this absurd fascination of posters here with the presumption that various posters are posting under multiple identities concurrently ?
While the odds that most of these weird claims are true is tiny – just more collusion delusion nonsense
it is also irrelevant.
If Estovir or whoever is posting under 12 psuedonyms – aside from how does he get that much time and energy – WHO CARES ?
The only times I have ever posted as anonymous are by accident – a new machine or my browser forgot who I was.
When I post from my cell phone I posts as dhlii – for reasons I do not know and do not care enough to figure out my Cell uses the same login data to pick a different psuedonym.
Otherwise I always post as JBSAY
I can not think of any reason I would want to post as multiple people.
If I want to reply to a post 12 times with 12 different arguments – I do exactly that.
There is not even a stupid reasons for people to deliberately post under multiple names.
We see lots of anonymous posting from the left – likely because those posters got Banned for egregiously violating the civility rules.
Daren is lax about enforcing those – and it takes REALLY bad conduct to get banned.
I beleive that a few specific left posters have changed their pseudonyms over the years.
SO WHAT ?
What does pi$$ me off is anonymous posters presuming that the rest of us will sort out which anonymous poster is which.
Sorry – you post anonymously you CHOSE to have no identity – and that is your right.
But with it you sacrifice the right to gripe if others misidentify you as a different anoymous.
Regardless this fixation over identities is absurdly stupid.
Those of you on the left believe there are conspiracies self evident even conduct that if true is perfetly moral ethical and not relivant to the debate.
Where did Americans come up with the hatred for blacks? What had they ever done to be treated like animals and worse? What the hell was is/wrong with those beasts who hated without a reason? Deport them!
#. What legal theory is scotus using now? Don’t tell me it’s natural law theory. 😏
While I don’t subscribe to this judge’s political views, where does it state in the first amendment that a judge doesn’t have freedom of speech protections? The real issue is whether the rulings of a judge are based on the law and not on their political beliefs or affiliations.
Apparently, you are not a fan of Codes of Conduct.
You either did not read the article, or do not understand plain third grade English, willfully play stupid, or some combination thereof.
Nobody took away or canceled this pathetic idiots first Amendment right. He has always maintained his first amendment rights. His superiors jobs were to remove him from office when he violated the code of ethics of his job and that’s exactly what happened.
You got lawyers like Tom Kline, appointed to the PA committee to recommend judicial candidates to Arlen Specter, who partnered with his son Shanin Specter, recommending Sanchez, and then tried cases before him. “Shanin Specter and attorneys from Kline & Specter frequently litigate major catastrophic injury and civil rights cases in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. A notable example handled by his firm before Chief Judge Juan R. Sanchez was the case of Philippe Holland v. City of Philadelphia, which resulted in a $4.4 million settlement—one of the largest police-shooting settlements involving a single precinct at that time.”
This bold, arrogant, unethical, beyond reproach, in-your-face behavior is the standard operating approach for the Left. More often than not, main stream media covers for these losers, who mistake education for intelligence.
Pavlov: Have you seen the latest You Gov poll results on Trump, and how most respondents describe him? The most-frequently used words to describe Donald Trump are “corrupt” (53%), “dangerous” (51%), “out‑of‑touch” (47%), “cruel” (46%), “bold” (45%), “racist” (45%), and “divisive” (42%).
Since they can’t defend Trump, it is a common MAGA media tactic to attack “the Left”. So, just how do you describe “the Left’? The majority of Americans find Trump to be unethical, they blame him for the high cost of fuel, groceries and consumer goods and lying about immediately bringing down the cost of these necessities, for lying about “no new wars”, that Mexico would pay to build the wall, for cutting social programs to pay for tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthiest, for cozying up to AI and supporting data centers (in which the Trumps are heavily invested), they believe him to be a poor leader, and disagree with his handling of everything. Therefore, according to MAGA, are most Americans “the Left”?
WINNING!
Like you, most Americans are idiots
No most americans are not idiots – but Polls are a poor measure of the actual values of americans.
Ask people if they like high gas prices – and 100% will say no.
But ask them if they are willing to pay $1 extra for gas for a year to end the nuclear threat from Iran and acheive a lasting peace int he mideast and you will get different answers.
Polls tend to be utopian – and people answer them that way.
PPACA has super majority support – UNTIL you asked if people would pay as little as $100/yr in higher taxes for it – the actual cost was far higher, and support completely tanked.
The poster cited YouGov – which is one of the worst pollsters.
We are also all anxious over the upcoming election.
In multiple primaries so far the polls have been 10-20 points Off – always in FAVOR of the far left.
The polster who got Iowa 20pts off in 2024 – was so embarressed she retired.
Polls in the past 2 decades have near universally underestimated republicans by 3-5pts IMMEDIATELY BEFORE ELECTION DAY – and WORSE in the 9 months before the election.
Right now the polls are showing a “bloodbath” for the GOP – That has the left jubilant, and the right anxious – and MAYBE for once the polls will be right. But the odds of that are TINY. The odds that the polls are NOT 3-5pts OR MORE skewed Democrat are small.
Collins is almost a dead heat in Maine – She has been there before and ALWAYS won by 6 or more pts.
Michigan, and Minnesota are also dead heats and would BOTH be GOP pickups.
Paxton is not especially popular in TX – but it shoudl not be forgotten that he has won statewide elections in TX in the past.
Paxton is only slightly more controversial that Cruiz, and Talarico is not nearly as appealing as Beto Orkouke – yet Cruiz beat Orouke.
Further AZ, NV, TX, MI, OH, PA, NC and numerous other states have ALL had significantly more Republican voter registrations over the past decade than Democrats, In All these states the GOP has gained ATLEAST 6pct in registrations. Unless NONE of those people vote,
it is likely the polls are wrong.
Further the SAME polls that have the GOP losing are also saying that Republicans and democrats are EQUALLY motivated to vote and EQUALLY supportive of their party – the reason that the out of power party wins mid terms is because that is NEVER true in a mid term.
To flip the senate Democrats MUST flip 4 GOP seats – TX, ME, NC, OH, NC are the potential flips AND they MUST not lose NH, MN, MI, GA,
Current polls predict exactly that – but even a 1pct swing throws that out the window, and a 3pct swing which si the LOW NORM for the past couple of decades would have the GOP GAIN senate seats. It also would likely result in holding the house.
I do not pretend to know what will actually happen in a few weeks.
But I DOUBT it is anything that anyone is predicting.
The polls have proven more untrustworthy that even int he primaries.
My god the TDS epidemic gets ignored. We need a task force and medical science.
These crazies are just left out in society to suffer.
People need to take it seriously as , it’s not just for entertainment anymore as much as I enjoyed the screed.
Trump cannot die or be removed from office soon enough.
But something you and Trump have exactly in common is the inability to stay on point.
Not a republican so it is not my job to “defend Trump”
That does not mean he is not head and shoulders better than anyone on the left.
The left gets attacked – because you are NUTS.
You rant about polls – Democrats as a whole and individual leading democrats all poll FAR LOWER than Trump.
Do you actually doubt that if the 2024 election were rerun this November – Trump would not obliterate Harris.
Trump 47 thus far has been more intentionally chaotic than Trump 45 – the Chaos in Trump’s first term was caused by the left and the absurd Collusion delusion – which many of you still believe.
There are many things about this Term that can not be confused with anything Democrats would do.
But I would hope that if ANY democrat president learned that Iran was within weeks of a nuclear bomb that they would have acted.
I beleive it was Sen Mark Kelley absurdly pi$$ed all over Kushner and Whitkopf as the inexperienced B team and that Trump should bring in negotiators like the democrats under Biden or Obama who negotiated the JCPOA.
Kushner and Whitkopf negotiated the Abrham accords during Trump’s first term. The only reason that is not MORE significant than Carter’s Camp David Accords – is because the Camp David Accords were the FIRST and until the abraham accords the ONLY peace deal in the mideast ever. Kushner should have the Nobel peace prize for that – as should Trump. They also negotiated the successful Ceasefire in Gaza – something Biden failed at.
It is this kind of disconnected from reality absurdity that has MOST PEOPLE scratching their heads at the left.
You rant about remarks Trump made 30 years ago – but pretend that El Sayed saying that Obama was the worst US president only a few years ago is perfectly fin no that they are embracing each other. More important is not whether El Sayed is Budy Budy with Obama, But WHY he was pi$$ing on Obama and what has changed – the answer is NOTHING. El Sayed has not abandoned the positions he had that are well beyond anything ordinary americans can cope with – he is just refusing to comment on them.
Absolutely Affordability is an issue – But so is being a total left wing lunatic and a terrorist apologist.
The economy is doing very well and frankly that has already caught up with prices – All the wage losses for the working class AND THEN some lost by Biden have been recouped. Working class wages have risen more than inflation.
But you only have two choices regarding the mideast – Either you beleive that Trump is slowly but successfully bringing about peace – or you beleive that it is going to blow up again soon enough – in which case – in what world do you want someone condoning terrorism in the Senate ?
No the majority of americans do not blame Trump for high costs – Everyone with half a brain KNOWS Biden blew up prices with inflation we have not seen since Carter.
Trump said that he would fix innumerable things “day one” – Every politician makes implausible politicians like that.
Only left wing nuts call predictions about the future lies.
Almost no one thought day one meant day one – or even day 365. But they did expect more progress by now – and that is hurting Trump and Republicans.
Nor did Trump anticipate getting elected and immediately discovering that Iran was very close to having a nuclear bomb.
That is a FAILURE of Biden. Every single president since Carter has promised that the Regime of the ayatolahs would NEVER get a nuclear weapon. That has been Official US Foreign policy for 47 years.
ANY US president that allowed Iran to get a nuke should be impeached.
Iran is not Russia, it is not China, it is not even India, Pakistan or North Korea.
When asked why NK can have a nuke and Iran can not – Trump responded that he was not president when NK got a nuke or they would not have one, but there is nothing to be done now.
But it is worse than that. Kim Un is NOT Suicidal. He does NOT beleive 77 Virgins await him should he nuke the great Satan – the US or the little Satan – Israel. Even the current conflict reveals Why thse Iranian leaders can never be allowed to get a Nuke.
This conflict ha been unbeleivably lopsided. By every Measure in existance – Iran has lost and should just capitulate – UNCONDITIONALLY.
But what we are seeing – atleast from their leaders is WORSE than Japan towards the end of WWII. The Iranian leaders DO NOT CARE about their own people. The DO NOT CARE about their own death. They are behaving EXACTLY as we were worried about regarding Japan – intent on Suicide rather than agreeing to act as we ALL expect any nation in the world to – to Not threaten their neighbors, to NOT attempt to strangle trade, to NOT export terrorism. These should be easy agreements – Iran BTW is a signatory of the Non-proliferation agreement and already agreed not to develop nukes. They also agreed in the JCPOA for what little that was worth.
Regardless, no americans are not happy with this conflict. Absolutely they want it to end. Absolutely they do not like the high gas prices it has caused.
But they also do not want a nuclear Iran. They do not want Iran threatening neighbors. They do not want the Ayatolahs or IRGC in power, they do not want ….
This is common – people WANT utopia, and they POLL as wanting Utopia
But they are NOT so stupid as you think
Which si why The left is twice as unpopular as Trump.
You can rant about Trump all you want – but the FACT is – no one rational likes YOU.
#. Personally the history of ethics governing judges is unfamiliar to me. I’d have to ask what the founders thought. Application of existing law is required without bias and when judgement is necessary reason prevails. The backdrop for this case is PA.
Not researching it…
Ask the Founders you say?
“…courts…must…declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void.”
“…men…do…what their powers do not authorize, [and] what [their powers] forbid.”
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“[A] limited Constitution … can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the reservations of particular rights or privileges would amount to nothing … To deny this would be to affirm … that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”
– Alexander Hamilton
The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
The absolute enumerated powers in Article 1, Section 8, and the absolute 5th Amendment right to private property deny all aspects and facets of the communist America welfare state.
Congress has NO power to regulate anything other than “commerce among nations, states, and Indian tribes,” “the value of money,” and “land and naval Forces.”
I am a bit confused. I get the balancing test and I get you do not want partisan judges. Is this more about appearance of impropriety as compared to absolute impropriety?
Quiet Man – It’s important for judges to maintain impartiality, in reality and appearance. Publishing a stream of partisan opinions on social media doesn’t give the public or litigants who appear before the judge confidence he will rule from a position of neutrality. Having a biased judge is considered a “structural defect” or foundational flaw in the process. If a judge is overly partisan in his public speech, that could affect lots of different cases that come before him, and it destroys public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.
#WeAreEstovir
I have a dim memory of the effort needed to remove a Court of Common Pleas judge who was not only obviously senile but quite vindictive. Still, it’s refreshing to see there’s still at least some recollection of proper judicial behavior.
Judicial ethics rules leave out one that is most dire: Judges should be completely indifferent to politics and none should hold membership in any political party.
Fair enough, but then no judges should be elected either.