By Karen Langley / Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin is stepping down from the court amid a scandal about the exchanging of inappropriate emails, his lawyer said today.
Attorney William Costopoulos told reporters at a press conference near the state Capitol that he delivered a letter of retirement from Justice Eakin to the Judicial Conduct Board and is having it delivered to Chief Justice Thomas Saylor and to Gov. Tom Wolf.
Justice Eakin was suspended from the court in December after allegations that he had sent emails with racist and misogynistic words and images.
A trial before the Court of Judicial Discipline had been scheduled to begin March 29. Mr. Costopoulos said there will be no trial, because Justice Eakin is agreeing to the facts of the allegations about his role in the exchange of emails.
“It’s for the Judicial Conduct Board and the court to decide whether he violated any canons,” Mr. Costopoulos said.
Justice Eakin, 67, is one of several high-profile state officials who have left their jobs as a result of emails made public by Attorney General Kathleen Kane. Another state Supreme Court justice, Seamus McCaffery, stepped down in 2014 amid accusations of sending pornographic emails.
Mr. Wolf said in a statement that he will nominate someone to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
“The continued abuse of the public trust is simply unacceptable,” the governor said in the statement. “Today is another reminder of why we must all work with urgency to restore the public’s trust in their government as well as the integrity of the judicial system.”
In a written statement, Mr. Costopoulos said: “We have lost one of the finest jurists of our court in the recent past. His opinions and writings will withstand the test of history. What has happened to him, and what has been done to him, will not.”