A number of conservative lawmakers have urged a Pittsburgh district magistrate to resign, with one state senator calling for the legislature to impeach the “reckless activist judge” for lenient bail-setting decisions after a former suspect allegedly killed a law enforcement officer Monday. But a legal expert says impeachment for judicial discretion likely won’t hold up.
“We're not trying to overstep and tell the judiciary branch what to do,” state Sen. Devlin Robinson (R-Bridgeville) told WESA. If Magisterial District Judge Xander Orenstein doesn’t “take the oath seriously, then they need to step down – they have to realize that they have a very serious job.”
Robinson called for Orenstein’s departure in a statement Wednesday, two days after 44-year-old Benjamin Brallier, an off-duty state police liquor control enforcement agent, was fatally stabbed while running on the Montour Trail.
On Monday, authorities arrested and charged 25-year-old suspect Anthony Quesen with homicide. Police had detained Quesen on simple assault and robbery charges in Pittsburgh in June of 2023, but court documents show Orenstein ordered Quesen freed on non-monetary bail for the offense.
Quesen, who used an alias upon arrest last year, didn’t show up for a district court hearing months later.
Orenstein was elected to be a magistrate district judge in 2021, representing a district that includes Lawrenceville, Polish Hill and Bloomfield. The position involves handling low-level neighborhood legal disputes as well as handling preliminary criminal matters, like making bail decisions. And Orenstein, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, ran on a platform of making the criminal justice system less punitive and more fair. Justice-reform advocates have long argued that requiring cash bail for people accused of crimes disproportionately harms the poor.
But Orenstein has been a lightning rod for criticism since taking office, and the county’s chief judge removed Orenstein from bail decisions earlier this year — after the bail decision in the earlier Quesen case. President Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente cited law enforcement complaints that two other suspects seen as “flight risks” — one on suspicion of drug trafficking and another on firearms and eluding police charges — were released and later failed to appear in court.
A court spokesperson did not immediately respond to WESA when asked about calls for Orenstein’s resignation, or about Robinson’s impeachment request.
Robinson said he’d ask House colleagues to introduce articles of impeachment against Orenstein. A majority vote would send the matter to the Senate, where lawmakers would consider evidence and hear testimony. A two-thirds vote would lead to removal from office.
But University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris says impeachment is not an appropriate remedy.
The state’s constitution says officials can be impeached only for “misbehavior in office … or performance of a discretionary duty with an improper or corrupt motive.”
“What doesn't qualify [for impeachment] is simply doing your job in a way that others disagree with,” Harris said.
If Orenstein does not resign, Harris added, the best way to hold the judge accountable would be to vote them out at the end of their six-year term, which for Orenstein would be at the end of 2027.
In any case, Robinson would need a House member to take up the impeachment. State Rep. Valerie Gaydos (R-Moon), whose district includes parts of the Montour Trail, said she wasn’t ready to do so.
“We first need to ensure that we have all the facts,” said Gaydos, who noted the homicide is still under investigation. “I don't like to jump to any kind of conclusions.”
Gaydos says she’s more focused on the family who lost a husband and father than on an impeachment proceeding. But, she added, “We can't let crime from the city spill into our suburbs.”
Other local leaders also condemned Orenstein Wednesday.
“This is not a random mistake. It’s a pattern,” said a statement calling for Orenstein’s resignation issued by Allegheny County Councilor Sam DeMarco, who also chairs the Republican Committee of Allegheny County.
One Democrat has also criticized Orenstein: state Rep. Anita Kulik, whose district also includes parts of Montour Trail, called on the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court and a judicial board to investigate the judge — even if they resign.
Even Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick weighed in, using the opportunity to call Democrats soft on crime.
Court records show Quesen’s preliminary hearing for the stabbing is set for Nov. 1. The suspect is held at the Allegheny County Jail without bail.
