Governor calls for Pennsylvania justice's resignation
Updated:Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is calling for the resignation of a justice accused of sending inappropriate emails following new revelations this weekend.
Wolf called for the resignation of Justice J. Michael Eakin, saying the justice showed “a remarkable lack of judgment” by voting on a nominee who could determine whether he is guilty of ethical misconduct, report the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennlive.com and the Associated Press.
Eakin is a Republican and Wolf is a Democrat.
The Saturday report by the Philadelphia Inquirer said Eakin took part in the nomination of Karen Snider to the Court of Judicial Discipline, which will determine Eakin’s fate now that the Judicial Conduct Board has filed an ethics complaint over the emails. Chief Justice Thomas Saylor withdrew Snider’s nomination after the report.
The Inquirer also offered more details of Eakin’s emails. According to the Inquirer, “Eakin wrote of his eagerness to slip dollar bills to strippers and of his desire to see women’s breasts. He and his friend, a prosecutor with the Attorney General’s Office, also mused about inviting two of Eakin’s judicial aides to join them on the trip and joked about sleeping arrangements.”
Eakin’s lawyer, Bill Costopoulos, says his client will not resign. Asked why Eakin voted on Snider’s nomination, Costopoulos told the Inquirer that, “Knowing Justice Michael Eakin, there was never, ever an intent on his part to do anything improper.”
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane revealed in October, after her arraignment on a perjury charge, that she had found inappropriate emails by Eakin on state computers. Kane claimed the emails included “racist, misogynistic pornography.” A review commissioned from a law firm said the emails could described as insensitive and offensive to women, but they weren’t racist or pornographic.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
Updated Dec. 10 to note that an ethics complaint was filed against Eakin.
