Judicial retention elections, until quite recently, have been low-key and easily overlooked. Not this year, not after what happened in 2005.

That's when angry voters lashed out at the only statewide candidates on the ballot and threw Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro off the bench. They nearly did the same to Justice Sandra Schultz Newman, who was also on the ballot; she later resigned. That stunning election was a response to a middle-of-the-night pay raise enacted, then rescinded, by the Legislature and to a subsequent state Supreme Court ruling that upheld the increases for judges.

An activist organization is running an ill-conceived campaign this year that has targeted 66 of the 67 retention candidates in Pennsylvania, including seven for appellate court seats and three for Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. The vote-no effort spares only Superior Court Judge Joan Orie Melvin, who repaid $14,402, the amount she received as a result of the raise. To prove how ill-conceived the campaign is, PA Clean Sweep does not give Supreme Court Justice Thomas G. Saylor a pass, even though he was the only justice who dissented on the court's ruling that upheld the judicial raises.

That lacks logic, and so does the blanket call for "no" votes on all candidates.

But not every candidate, in the Post-Gazette's view, deserves a "yes" vote either. With one exception, the candidates trying to keep their jobs on the bench have studied the law, issued sound rulings and largely conducted themselves appropriately in public.

Allegheny County has been well served by Common Pleas Court judges Terry O'Brien, 57, of Mt. Lebanon; Lester G. Nauhaus, 64, of Squirrel Hill; and President Judge Joseph M. James, 59, of Squirrel Hill. We heartily recommend a "yes" vote to retain each.

Supreme Court Justice Thomas G. Saylor, 60, of Camp Hill joined the state's highest court in 1997, a low point in its history following the impeachment of Justice Rolf Larsen. His approach was to improve the court's image by writing high-quality, well-reasoned opinions, and we agree with an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Bar Association that says he has done just that.

The statewide bar association has recommended retaining the other appellate court judges on the ballot as well.

We also recommend that voters say "yes" to keeping Commonwealth Court Judges Bonnie B. Leadbetter, 60, of Montgomery County; Bernard L. McGinley, 61, of Point Breeze; and Doris A. Smith-Ribner, 61, of Philadelphia.

For Superior Court, Judge Joan Orie Melvin, 51, of Marshall and her colleague John L. Musmanno, 65, of Ben Avon Heights both deserve "yes" votes.

We are troubled, however, by statements on federal immigration law made in several public forums this year by Superior Court Judge Correale F. Stevens of Luzerne County. Judge Stevens, 61, a former state representative, district attorney and Common Pleas judge, says he is trying to encourage debate on how to approach the problems of illegal immigration, a topic that he says comes up when people learn he is from Hazleton.

Geography need not be destiny. Judge Stevens is correct when he says judges are permitted to write, lecture and speak on a variety of issues. But he has picked political red meat in advocating for a change that would allow local police and prosecutors to deport illegal aliens instead of leaving enforcement to the federal government.

A wise judge would know better to stay out of such a political battle. We recommend a "no" vote on Mr. Stevens.