Bill O’Boyle
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader
Citing what he called his “simple judicial philosophy,” Republican Superior Court candidate Vic Stabile said last week that judges are not to legislate from the bench, but rather, are to fairly apply the law equitably to all parties appearing before the court regardless of any political, social or economic status.
“Everyone is entitled to ‘equal justice under law,’ ” Stabile said during a stop at The Times Leader Oct. 24. “I despise when politics makes its way to the court system. It erodes the judicial system.”
Stabile, 54, of Carlisle, opposes David N. Wecht, currently a common pleas court judge in Allegheny County, for the only open seat on the state Superior Court.
Stabile said there are far more registered Democrats than Republicans in Pennsylvania, but the state House and Senate have Republican majorities and Gov. Tom Corbett is also a member of the GOP.
“I really don’t think statewide registration numbers are very important now,” Stabile said. “My campaign is about telling voters who I am and what I’m about.”
Stabile has nearly 30 years of broad legal experience that he would bring to the Superior Court bench. He is a 1982 graduate of the Dickinson School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and the president of the Student Bar Association. Upon graduation, he was selected to serve as an appellate court clerk in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.
Upon completion of his clerkship, he was appointed a deputy attorney general in a trial division of the Office of Attorney General, where he litigated cases in defense of commonwealth agencies throughout many of the commonwealth’s trial courts and the appellate courts of Pennsylvania. While a deputy attorney general, Stabile also served as the acting chief of the statewide trial division and successfully argued and litigated now precedential case law in the state Supreme Court.
In 1987, Stabile joined the law firm of Dilworth Paxson LLP, and has been a partner and the managing member of its Harrisburg office since 1992. His practice principally involves complex commercial and business litigation. While at Dilworth, he has continued to argue and litigate cases in the state appellate courts. In 2004, he was named by Philadelphia Magazine as one of Pennsylvania’s Super Lawyers. He has practiced in all state and federal courts in Pennsylvania, and is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court and state Supreme Court bars.
Stabile said he has devoted much time to public service in his community and to pro bono legal work. He has done free work on behalf of protecting individual rights from egregious government action, and has represented community organizations, political candidates, and disabled individuals.
He serves as the chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Middlesex Township, Cumberland County.
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