By Kevin Zwick
Staff Reporter
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (Nov. 2) – A court-appointed counsel recommended the state Supreme Court should not take immediate action over Justice Michael Eakin’s private emails exposed by Attorney General Kathleen Kane, but instead should allow the Judicial Conduct Board to investigate.
Special Counsel Joseph Del Sole’s report said that while the emails reviewed are offensive, they do not “give rise to the type of extraordinary circumstances warranting immediate intervention by the Court.”
“At the very least, submission of this issue to the Judicial Conduct Board should serve as an admonition that jurists should not send or be part of networks that regularly exchange insensitive emails or similar materials because such conduct could cast both the jurist and the judiciary into disrepute or could cause a reasonable person to question the impartiality of a judge and the judicial system,” the report states.
A statement from court spokesman Jim Koval says the court “has decided, at the present time, to abide by the recommendation of Special Counsel.” The JCB is currently investigating.
Del Sole, a retired Superior Court judge, reviewed 955 emails submitted by Kane’s office, of which 157 were sent by Eakin. None of the emails sent by Eakin contained pornographic material, the report says. Eakin forwarded a joke that featured a photo of a woman changing her bikini top that revealed a view of her breasts – an email that “would most likely not be characterized as ‘pornographic’ according to contemporary community standards,” the report says.
The report says Eakin forwarded “multiple emails that were insensitive, chauvinistic and offensive to women, including one that contained a joke about spousal abuse,” which the report singles out as being “Of concern to us…” and “troubling.”
That email was not included among the nearly 50 emails Kane’s office released to the press late last month.
However, the report says a review of the emails sent from Eakin’s account “revealed nothing that can be characterized as racist, homophobic or otherwise discriminatory toward any group (other than the gender-related issues previously discussed).” While the report notes that he had received emails that “are readily described as sexist, racist, homophobic and otherwise offensive” – they “appear to be unsolicited by Justice Eakin.”
“The Judicial Conduct Board is best able to determine whether Justice Eakin opened and read these materials and whether he made any effort to be removed from the distribution list of offensive materials,” the report says.
The emails reviewed by Del Sole showed no violations of law or the “sanctity of the judicial process.”
“Indeed, there were no discussions of legal issues at all,” the report says, adding that in no emails did he take a public or political positions, or offer or imply any partiality or favoritism.
Kane, who is facing numerous criminal charges for allegedly orchestrating a leak of secret grand jury material and lying about it under oath, publicized a portion of the emails sent or received by Eakin’s private email account on Oct. 22, the same day the Supreme Court-ordered suspension of her law license took effect.
“I agree that some of the emails raise ‘serious concern’ and I await the findings of the Judicial Conduct Board,” Kane said in a statement.
Justice Correale Stevens, in a statement, said he supports the report’s conclusion that the JCB is best equipped to investigate.
“While I do not offer my personal opinion on the merits of the issue, so as not to be interpreted as attempting to influence the JCB, I caution the JCB to not minimize or sanitize the seriousness of this matter as they reach whatever conclusions they reach as they undertake a broader review,” he said. “The content of the emails and the impact of that content on the Court, lawyers and the public must be explored.”
Justice Debra Todd issued a statement in support of the report’s finding and calling for an expedited investigation by the Judicial Conduct Board.
“I have reviewed all of the emails provided by the Office of the Attorney General, and I am disappointed and offended, both personally and professionally, by much of the content,” she said. “The email exchanges contain offensive images, comments, and ‘jokes,’ some of which are sexually explicit and demeaning to women. Some trivialize physical and sexual assault. I am equally offended by the derogatory stereotyping and mocking of racial, ethnic, and religious groups, as well as gays and lesbians.”
She said Pennsylvania judges are expected to conduct themselves in personal and private lives “in a manner that promotes the public’s trust and confidence in the judiciary.
“Our citizens deserve nothing less,” she added.
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