Kevin M. Dougherty was elected to a ten-year term on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in November 2015 and began serving as a Supreme Court Justice in January 2016.
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court is the oldest appellate court in the United States of America and predated the nation’s independence by several decades. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was established by the Commonwealth’s Judiciary Act of 1722, and traces its roots to the Provincial Appellate Court created in 1684.
Justice Kevin M. Dougherty graduated from Temple University, and then attended Antioch School of Law in Washington, DC. Following that he started his legal career as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia, and later went into private practice.
In 2001, Dougherty was appointed to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and he won election to a full 10-year term later that year. Justice Dougherty requested to be assigned to Family Court because he felt that he could influence the lives of our most vulnerable citizens and help mold troubled youth into happy, healthy, and productive members of society.
In recognition of his administrative skills and commitment to reforming the juvenile justice system, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed Justice Dougherty to be Administrative Judge of the Philadelphia Family Court in 2005 eventually serving as the longest Administrative Judge in Philadelphia history. In this capacity, Justice Dougherty initiated numerous diversionary programs benefiting the most at-risk and vulnerable children in Philadelphia including the Cross-Over Program, the Adolescent Medicine Initiative, and the Expungement Initiative.
In 2014, Justice Dougherty was reassigned as the Administrative Judge of the Trial Division, First Judicial District, as such ran the largest court system in Pennsylvania while serving as Chair of the Administrative Governing Board.
Justice Dougherty was elected to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on November 3rd, 2015. With a passion for issues facing children and families, Justice Dougherty alongside his fellow Justices has taken a keen interest in making the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania a model for the country when it comes to issues such as access to justice, alternative sentencing, transparency within the court system, and most importantly keeping an open dialogue between the various stakeholders within the judicial branch of government. In addition, he proudly represents the Supreme Court on both the Statewide Dependency Court Improvement Program, the Autism and the Courts Initiative, and the new Supreme Court Behavioral Health Initiative.