# In re Nomination Petition of Beyer

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · May 5, 2014 · 631 Pa. 612

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4969673

## Case

- **Full name:** In re Nomination Petition of Michael W. BEYER, Candidate for the Democratic Nomination for the Office of Representative in the General Assembly for the 131st Legislative District. Appeal of David Eisenhauer and Linda Eisenhauer
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** May 5, 2014
- **Citations:** 631 Pa. 612; 115 A.3d 835; 2014 Pa. LEXIS 3568
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Baer
- **Judges:** Baer, Castille, Eakin, McCaffery, Saylor, Stevens, Todd
- **Cited by:** 36 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4969673

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding it “reasonable for this Court to rule prospectively that a candidate may only designate his occupation or profession as ‘lawyer’ on nomination papers after he or she has graduated from law school, passed the bar exam, and is in good standing as an active member of the …
- holding objectors have the burden of proving defects in election cases

## Opinion text

Justice BAER,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent for the reasons set forth in my dissenting statement to the per curiam order striking Michael W. Beyer from the primary ballot for the Democratic *844 Party nomination for the Office of Representative in the General Assembly for the 131st Legislative District. In re Nomination of Michael Beyer, 625 Pa. 341 , 91 A.3d 1231 (2014).
To reiterate, I find it reasonable for this Court to rule prospectively that a candidate may only designate his occupation or profession as “lawyer” on nomination papers after he or she has graduated from law school, passed the bar exam, and is in good standing as an active member of the Pennsylvania Bar. However, at the time Candidate Beyer filed his nomination papers, neither a majority of this Court nor the Commonwealth Court had ever made such an express declaration. Notably, the opinions the majority finds persuasive in support of its determination that Candidate Beyer intentionally made a material misrepresentation are concurring opinions of Former Chief Justice Castille in In re Rankin, 583 Pa. 38 , 874 A.2d 1145 (2005), and In re Nomination Petition of Guzzardi, — Pa. -, 99 A.3d 381 (2014). These cases, however, involved election matters where the candidate was not removed from the ballot based on any misrepresentation of the candidate’s occupation. Thus, in my view, they cannot serve as affording candidates clear notice of what constitutes the occupation of “lawyer” for purposes of the Election Code.
In the instant case, the Commonwealth Court made a specific factual finding that Candidate Beyer had no intent to deceive the electorate by listing his occupation as “lawyer,” but rather believed that he was a lawyer because he had studied law and graduated from law school. The Commonwealth Court further relied upon Candidate Beyer’s candor in a newspaper interview, where he acknowledged readily that he was a recent law school graduate who had not yet taken the bar exam. Absent intent to deceive the electorate or a violation of a clear legal directive prohibiting him from representing his occupation as a “lawyer” upon graduation from law school, I cannot join the majority’s holding that Candidate Beyer committed a knowing and material misrepresentation warranting the striking of his name from the ballot.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4969673. Public record. Not legal advice.