HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS / AP: A prosecutor wants a judge to reject arguments by state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin that her prosecution on campaign corruption charges is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers.
Melvin is scheduled for trial next month on charges she illegally used her former Superior Court law clerks and other staff members to help her campaign for a Supreme Court seat in 2003 and again in 2009, when she finally was elected to the state’s highest court. Melvin will be tried along with her sister Janine Orie, who ran Melvin’s Superior Court staff and is accused of conspiring to use the state-paid staff of a third sister, former state Sen. Jane Orie, to campaign for Melvin…
Melvin’s attorneys are seeking to dismiss the case against her. Earlier this month, they argued that the prosecution is “unprecedented and constitutionally flawed” because the state judiciary has rules regulating the political activity of its employees and only the judiciary can decide whether those rules have been broken… (more)
