The Racy Email Problem Could Become Just An Email Problem
The email scandal that claimed the careers of so many top state officials isn’t quite over, but its focus is changing.
The Legal Intelligencer reports that criminal defense attorneys, the ACLU, and other experts want to look at more than 4,000 emails that have passed between the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Attorney General’s Office in recent years. And no, they don’t just want to look at the dirty ones.
The letter was signed by state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Delaware; Lawrence C. Fox, the supervising attorney of the ethics bureau of Yale Law School and Drinker Biddle & Reath partner; Reggie Shuford, the executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania; and Jim Swetz, the president of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.
They pointed to Castille’s comments that a judge should not be “fraternizing too closely” with prosecutors or defense counsel via email.
“Indeed, any ex parte contacts between the Supreme Court and a prosecutor’s office, including the Attorney General’s Office and county district attorneys, would constitute highly improper conduct,” the letter said.
Neither Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille nor Attorney General Kathleen Kane offered comment.
