BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today affirmed a lower court order removing Taiba Sultana, a former Easton City Council member, from the May 19 Democratic primary ballot for the state’s 18th Senate District, ending her legal challenge and leaving incumbent state Sen. Lisa Boscola without a primary opponent.
The high court’s order, issued April 9 in In re: Nomination Petition of Taiba Sultana, No. 27 MAP 2026, affirms a Commonwealth Court ruling from April 1 that found Sultana’s nomination petition contained a material defect. The court also dismissed Sultana’s application for a stay as moot.
The case centered on Sultana’s listing of “self-employed” as her occupation on her nomination petition, without specifying the type of work.
Commonwealth Court Judge Anne E. Covey found that the omission was legally insufficient under the Pennsylvania Election Code, writing that Sultana had deprived electors of information the General Assembly deemed sufficiently material to appear at the top of each petition page.
The challenge was filed by four registered Democratic voters: Patricia M. Hitzel, Celeste Lillian Dee, Patricia Joan Bruno and Pamela A. Panto. Dee is a campaign consultant active in Boscola’s campaign, and Panto is the wife of Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr., according to reporting by Lehigh Daily and Armchair Lehigh Valley.
Attorney Raymond G. Lahoud of Lahoud Law Group, P.C., who represented the four petitioners, said in a statement that the ruling was “a complete and unequivocal victory for the rule of law.”
“Despite Ms. Sultana’s attempts to characterize these defects as minor or technical, both courts found exactly the opposite,” Lahoud said. “This was a material violation that had the potential to mislead voters.”
In a statement issued after today’s ruling, Sultana said the Supreme Court disposed of the case on mootness rather than ruling on the merits, which she said left voters in the 18th District without a real choice.
“I filed an immediate appeal and submitted a complete brief within the required timeframe,” Sultana said. “Yet the Supreme Court refused to address the merits of my case.”
Sultana said the mootness ruling left the underlying legal question unanswered. “I am self-employed. I work as a political consultant, a caterer, and an online seller. I told the truth,” she said. “The court’s decision does not change that.”
Sultana said she intends to continue pushing for what she called a clear and fair standard. “I took this fight all the way to the Supreme Court because I believe voters, not technicalities, not money, not insiders, should decide elections,” she said. “I’m not done fighting.”
Sultana also pointed to Lahoud’s prior involvement in local races against her. According to campaign finance records reported by Armchair Lehigh Valley, Lahoud, a registered Republican, created and funded PA Citizens PAC in 2024, spending more than $70,000 to defeat Sultana in her state House race against incumbent Rep. Robert Freeman.
Lahoud’s Avvo attorney profile also lists a prior stint as a legislative aide to Sen. Boscola, the incumbent Sultana sought to unseat.
Sultana had been challenging Boscola in a primary that Spotlight PA included in its list of 2026 legislative primaries worth watching heading into the May 19 election. Boscola has held the 18th District Senate seat since 1998, previously serving two terms in the state House.
With no further avenue for appeal, Boscola will run unopposed in the May 19 Democratic primary. In the general election, she will face Republican Scott Janney.
Justice McCaffery did not participate in the consideration or decision of the matter, according to the court’s order.
This story updates prior Lehigh Daily coverage of the Commonwealth Court ruling.