The editorial board of the Philadelphia Inquirer today endorsed Dan McCaffery for the open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

McCaffery, a Democrat who currently sits on the state Superior Court, is facing Republican Carolyn Carluccio for the seat that is vacant due to the passing of Chief Justice Max Baer last October.

The newspaper’s board wrote that “This is not a difficult decision — especially since such issues as abortion and voting rights are also essentially on the ballot.

“Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, 21 states have banned or severely restricted the procedure. For now, abortion remains legal in Pennsylvania, but Republicans in the state legislature have attempted to restrict or even ban the procedure, which should remain a matter of individual choice.

“Unlike the Supreme Court justices who said during their confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade was settled law and then voted to overturn it, McCaffery said he would abide by stare decisis, the legal system construct whereby judges honor precedent.”

Carluccio serves as the president judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. She was endorsed by a pair of state anti-abortion associations and removed a reference on her website that said she was a defender of “all life under the law.”

“In a meeting with this board, Carluccio said she would follow the law in Pennsylvania regarding abortion. She said she did not scrub the “all life” language from her website, but rather a political consultant “updated” it before the primary. Bottom line: The antiabortion language was removed before election season.”

The board also wrote that it was troubled by her stance on election integrity and when questioned if she thought Joe Biden won the election, the 63-year-old Carluccio initially responded, “I have no idea.”

The Inquirer board closed by recommending McCaffery, stating “Voters deserve judges who follow the law and not the political winds.”