HARRISBURG -- State investigators yesterday won access to 20 boxes of campaign and political documents seized in an August raid on House Democratic offices.

The state Supreme Court yesterday unanimously rejected the House Democratic caucus's appeal of a Sept. 26 order by Judge Barry Feudale.

Judge Feudale had ruled that the material could be presented to a grand jury investigating whether state employees received substantial state bonuses as payment for campaign work. Judge Feudale is a Northumberland County senior judge supervising the grand jury.

The Supreme Court sealed all briefs in the case, and its four-sentence order offers no new details about the investigation.

Justice Thomas Saylor, who is running for retention in Tuesday's election, did not participate in the decision.

According to Mr. Feudale's order, the boxes taken from the Democratic Office of Legislative Research contained material including campaign research, old press releases and files labeled "incumbent protection plan" and "opposition research."

Attorney General Tom Corbett has said he is investigating all four caucuses to determine whether public funds were used to subsidize campaign work.

It is illegal for campaign work to be done in state offices, on state equipment or by state employees on work time.

Kevin Harley, spokesman for Mr. Corbett, and Tom Andrews, spokesman for House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese, declined to comment on the Supreme Court ruling.