A Berks County Republican running for a seat on the Commonwealth Court bench made a barber shop in north Philadelphia the first stop on his “Justice for All” listening tour.
Josh Prince, 43, spoke to about 20 people at the Hair Forever barber shop on Friday, giving his campaign pitch and taking questions.
Prince is known for being the first lawyer to file a king’s bench petition to the state Supreme Court to stop former Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID lockdowns, mandates, and cases to protect Second Amendment rights.
Prince addressed what he called an “erosion of confidence in the judiciary.”
“I have spent my entire career defending our civil rights in the state and federal courts,” said Prince. He represented barber and beauty shops, restaurants and other small businesses in the COVID litigation. “We stood up for the people.” Prince said he also represented school boards and others who opposed closures and masking.
“If I’m blessed with this opportunity, there’s going to be times I have to issue decisions that I’m personally not going to agree with,” he added. “We need judges who aren’t political. We need to get politics out of the judiciary.”
Prince graduated from McGill University and Widener University School of Law and has been practicing law for more than 15 years. He is the principal of the Civil Rights Defense Firm and an associate at Prince Law Offices. Prince and his wife, Jessica, expect their first child in September.
His opponent in the May 20 GOP primary is Matt Wolford of Erie, a solo practitioner who previously served as an assistant counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Philadelphian Stella Tsai, a Democrat, is running for election and Judge Michael H. Wojcik (D) from Allegheny County, are running for retention.
Prince would like to see judges run without party labels. The last state Supreme Court race cost $13 million, and Prince said he was told he needed to raise $1 million to $1.5 million for this race. “That’s obscene money.”
Commonwealth Court is both a trial and appellate court, depending on the legal issue before it. Prince has litigated 13 cases before the Commonwealth Court and won 10. Two await rulings; the one he lost is on appeal to the state Supreme Court.
“I would say it is the most important court here in the commonwealth,” he said because of the volume of cases it decides.
“How can you explain to the voters that you wouldn’t be the type of judge who would play buddy ball?” asked Allante McAuley with Flip Philly Red. “We all know that judges and lawyers, you all are in the same community. ‘I trade you this person for this person.’ That’s how cases get decided.”
“First and foremost, some are concerned that if I become a judge, I’m going to root them out because I absolutely will,” said Prince. “I don’t have a problem at all. If I find any kind of bribing, threatening, or any kind of shenanigans going on, whether it’s in the Commonwealth Court or a different court, I will take corrective action and make sure that it’s addressed. And if it isn’t, I don’t have a problem going public.”
Judges need to “check their politics and friendships at the door,” he said. He mentioned Justice Kevin Bobson who immediately told the parties in a case he was involved in that one of the lawyers had donated to his campaign.
“That says a lot about his character,” said Prince.
Rapper Top Floor Lute, getting a trim from barber Salvatore “Roc” Hall, changed his registration on the spot to vote for Prince.
Hall said he was impressed with Prince and that his friend, “a rapper, a street guy,” wants to vote for him.
“He’s a nice guy,” said Lute. “I like his name, Josh Prince. It’s got a ring to it.”
Hall said it was important that Prince had come to his shop to talk to people in north Philadelphia.
“That’s the biggest thing,” said Hall.
