PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER EDITORIAL: Take the increasingly sordid case of state Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin, who this week apologized for, as he delicately put it, “insensitive” emails detailed in the Daily News and turned over to the court and Judicial Conduct Board. Last year, Kane’s first round of pornography purges forced the resignation of Justice Seamus McCaffery, but Eakin was mysteriously cleared by the high court and the conduct board. The latest revelations suggest not only that Eakin owes the public more than an apology, but that the court, the conduct board, the attorney general, and the justice himself fell far short of their responsibilities in the botched initial investigation…
As for Eakin, many of the emails disclosed, beyond being repugnant and stupid, likely run afoul of the Code of Judicial Conduct’s proscription of expressions of bias and of ex parte communications with attorneys. They certainly don’t reflect the dignity and impartiality the public expects of its judges, much less those of the state’s highest court.
Given the documented failures of the state’s existing authorities, an independent special prosecutor or task force must be appointed to conduct a thorough investigation, provide a full public accounting of inappropriate official communications, and recommend consequences for all those involved. Without such a reckoning, this scandal will continue to be as indelible as an incriminating email… (more)
EDITOR: A careful reading of the entire editorial suggests that the Inquirer editors are trying to tip toe between its outlandish persecution of Attorney General Kathleen Kane and the emerging big story, the corruption of the states judiciary system, which with which Kane has had to struggle.
We hope they, LNP and others who rushed to judgment enjoy eating crow, which soon should come.
