By Bill Keisling
The rap against Gov. Tom Corbett is that he has spent his career as a political prosecutor, going after political enemies while protecting friends, and him.
Now Corbett, near the end of his tether, with waning political and personal influence, has again stooped to his favorite old trick: turning to a politically friendly court to help salvage his personal career and ambitions.
I don’t know anyone much familiar with law who is taking Corbett’s NCAA lawsuit seriously on its legal merits.
Political concerns and merits are another matter.
In the real world, outside of Pennsylvania, Corbett’s lawsuit would likely be quickly laughed out of court, for any number of reasons, including lack of standing, and the ridiculous proposition that a Corbett lawsuit should now overturn a debacle largely of Corbett’s own politically incompetent making.
But in Pennsylvania’s highly partisan courts, none of that means Corbett’s suit doesn’t stand a chance.
In fact, others and I are betting that Corbett and his politically chummy bench of judges in the Middle District Court of Pennsylvania are going to make it quite rough for the NCAA.
The danger for everyone here (including Attorney General-elect Kathleen Kane) is that the case will be handled in a political fashion by the PA Middle District federal court, further muddying an already sullied chapter in state politics.
Simply put, the court is packed with Corbett cronies and partisans.
Of the three Pennsylvania federal district courts, the Middle District for years was under the most sway of former Senator Arlen Specter, and Gov. Tom Ridge.
It is today as a result a fiercely political GOP court. These political appointments and chips are now what Corbett is attempting to cash in.
Middle District Court President Judge Yvette Kane (no relation to Kathleen) was a personal friend of Arlen Specter’s. Judge Kane has for years has reported that she has accepted large and expensive gifts from a partner in the law firm Eckert Seamans, which also happens to be longtime Corbett crony LeRoy Zimmerman’s law firm.
(See ‘Put a ring on it’ Federal Judge Yvette Kane lists approximately $80,000 in gifts of jewelry, an automobile, interest, trips and other gifts.)
It is Judge Kane’s responsibility to assign the case to a trial judge.
The bench below her is thick with Republican Party hacks.
Middle District Judge John E. Jones, for example, previously served on Gov. Tom Ridge’s political and governmental teams with none other than — Tom Corbett!
A magistrate judge will be appointed to oversee Corbett’s NCAA case on a daily basis.
Working on many cases in the Middle District is magistrate judge Marty Carlson. Carlson is the former U.S. attorney who early on was notified of the Luzerne County Cash for Kids scandal, but who refused to investigate. See U.S. Atty. Carlson quits for judge post [Kids for Cash Prosecutor-newly created position.
Carlson, George W. Bush’s former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of PA, I should add, was appointed to the bench in a midnight fashion, critics say, precisely to help ramrod political cases like Corbett’s NCAA suit through the federal court system.
Carlson, in the interim, has been instrumental in attempting to silence political foes of the Middle District bench, such as Harrisburg civil rights attorney Don Bailey, who now faces disbarment for daring to criticize the blatantly political nature of the court and its judges.
In a few days we’ll know how Corbett’s case is being assigned, and to which judges.
Not that a politically fixed court case against the NCAA will be all bad.
This case may be an opportunity for folks around the nation (and the NCAA) to witness Pennsylvania’s crony courts in action.
The law, and the facts, will not apply.
As for Tom Corbett, I’m reminded of the lyrics of the 1970s Jamaican reggae song “Johnny Too Bad,” which appeared in the movie The Harder They Come:
“One of these days, when you hear a voice say come, who you gonna run to?
You’re going to run to the rock for rescue, there will be no rock.”
The NCAA, after all, was only following Corbett’s own playbook.
Sounds like articles’s author (Keisling) is a political hack as well. Writes like one.
Anonymous:
How is he a hack? Or do you forget that Corbett spoke out in favor of the sanctions when they were first handed down?
I like to think that between then and now Corbett got smarter. The NCAA has no business getting involved in this. Let’s hope the courts think likewise.