The May 15 primary may lack races that capture the public imagination, but they do require the public mind to be engaged. That is especially true of the races for nominations to Pennsylvania's appellate courts, which have duties too important to be chanced to unqualified candidates.

Voters were easily roused to care about the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in the wake of the furor over the July 2005 legislative pay raise, but that has gone off the boil. The power of the justices has not changed, however.

The state's high court has original jurisdiction in certain cases, like habeas corpus; it plays an appellate role in cases originating in Commonwealth Court or Common Pleas Court; it has exclusive jurisdiction of appeals from certain state boards and commissions and in death-penalty cases; and it has the power to take hold of cases of crucial public importance that are pending in a lower court.

So the voters' mantra should be: Choose well now or regret it later.

Two seats are available on the seven-member Supreme Court, due to the resignation last year of Justice Sandra Schultz Newman and the ouster of Justice Russell Nigro, who lost a retention election in November 2005 amid the public's outrage over the pay raise.

Four Democrats and three Republicans are in the primary seeking to be nominated by their parties for a run in the November election.

On the Democratic ballot are Superior Court Judge Seamus P. McCaffery and Common Pleas Judge Willis W. Berry Jr., both of Philadelphia. Our endorsements for the Democrats, however, go to Common Pleas Judge C. Darnell Jones II of Philadelphia and Superior Court Judge Debra Todd of Cranberry.

Judge Jones, 57, is president judge of the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, where he has been on the bench for 20 years. For a decade prior, he was an assistant public defender. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a highly regarded expert on death penalty law and litigation who instructs other judges in how to apply the law. Judge Jones has conducted hundreds of jury and bench trials and has authored numerous opinions. The Pennsylvania Bar Association, rated him "highly recommended."

His vast range of experience and scholarship make him an ideal nominee.

Judge Todd, 49, the daughter of a steel worker, has been sitting as a member of Superior Court since 2000. She is an honors graduate of Chatham College and a 1982 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Law School, where she was on the law review. In 2004, she added an advanced degree in judicial process from the University of Virginia School of Law. A former in-house litigation attorney for U.S. Steel, Judge Todd also had a trial practice in Pittsburgh for a dozen years with an emphasis on complex civil litigation. Active in community service, she was rated "highly recommended" by the bar association.

A work horse on Superior Court and an expert on the law, the judge richly deserves nomination.

On the Republican side of the ledger, Judge Paul Panepinto is another member of Philadelphia Common Pleas Court seeking nomination. But the GOP should throw its weight behind Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green of Cranberry and Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board Judge Michael L. Krancer of Bryn Mawr.

Judge Lally-Green, 57, was a professor at the Duquesne University School of Law when Gov. Tom Ridge appointed her to Superior Court in 1998. The next year she was elected to a 10-year term on the court. A former counsel for Westinghouse Electric Corp., she has been appointed by the Supreme Court to various positions, such as a committee on procedural rules in the appellate courts and an intergovernmental commission on race, gender and ethnic fairness. Judge Lally-Green also has a good record of community service and volunteers on a number of boards, including St. Francis University. She is rated "highly recommended" by the state bar association.

Her impressive mix of courtroom experience and community service would make her a formidable nominee.

Judge Krancer, 49, is rated "recommended" by the state bar association. Until his recent resignation, he was chief judge on the state's environmental hearing board, a trial court for environmental litigation. Unusually for Pennsylvania, that is a merit-selection court; Gov. Tom Ridge appointed Judge Krancer and the Senate confirmed him in 1999. Prior to joining the board, he was a litigator for firms in Philadelphia. He is a graduate in economics from the University of Virginia and he received his law degree from Washington and Lee University. A history buff, Judge Krancer is a Civil War re-enactor. He is pursuing theological studies at Villanova University and serves on various community boards while volunteering as a writing skills coach to disadvantaged students.

The judge deserves nomination based on his court service, knowledge of the law and work for the underprivileged.