Legal Standing to Raise the Issue of Whether Someone Can Hold the Offices of State Senator

In Lawless v. Jubelirer, 789 A.2d 820 (Pa. Cmwlth.) aff'd, 571 Pa. 79, 811 A.2d 974 (2002), John A. Lawless, a member of the General Assembly, and Charles Pascal, a member of the Board of Directors of the Leechburg Area School District, filed a petition for review in the nature of a request for declaratory judgment that then Lieutenant Governor, Robert C. Jubelirer, could not contemporaneously hold the offices of State Senator and President pro tempore of the Senate. In determining whether Lawless and Pascal had standing this Court scrutinized the five-part test and concluded that petitioners had standing to raise the issue. First, the issue was likely to go uncontested because those directly and immediately affected by the Senator's dual roles, i.e., the Senator's colleagues and legislators, were not likely to challenge his dual authority. Second, judicial relief was appropriate to challenge the constitutionality of an individual's right to simultaneously occupy these various positions. Redress was not available elsewhere, and no other person was better situated to commence the lawsuit.