Supreme Court justice apologizes, but questions remain
J. Michael Eakin apologized for his role in a raunchy email scandal, but A.G. Kathleen Kane says the court had them last year
PENNSYLVANIA Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin broke his silence yesterday and apologized for his involvement in a convoluted email scandal that continues to smolder around the state.
Eakin is facing renewed scrutiny after the Daily News last week reported on inappropriate emails he had sent or received using a Yahoo email address he created under the name "John Smith."
The emails - some containing nudity and racist or sexist jokes and videos - wound up on state servers because the sender or one of the recipients was an employee of the state Attorney General's Office and used their government email address.
"It is disconcerting and embarrassing to find others searching years of private personal emails looking for and publicizing any insensitive content. I sincerely apologize for such content," Eakin said in a statement.
"Those who know me understand the items chosen for release do not reflect my character or beliefs, nor have they ever been part of my consideration of any case or business of the Court," he said. "I do not offer this as an excuse, and will continue to cooperate fully with the independent review by the Court and by the Conduct Board."
Eakin, 66, a Republican, was elected to the Supreme Court in 2001. He previously served as district attorney in Cumberland County.
The Judicial Conduct Board and a court-appointed lawyer cleared Eakin of any wrongdoing last year, saying the emails tied to his Yahoo account were largely unremarkable.
In the wake of last week's Daily News report, however, the board claimed that the state Attorney General's Office had not handed over all of the Eakin emails for the initial investigation.
Yesterday, Attorney General Kathleen Kane issued a detailed statement, insisting that the Judicial Conduct Board and special counsel Robert Byer did, in fact, have access to all the Eakin emails when they conducted their investigation last year. Kane, a Democrat, said her office has records to prove it.
"Any allegation or statement that these two entities did not have the information because of any action of [the Attorney General's Office] is factually incorrect," Kane said in a statement.
Byer is recovering from surgery and has been unavailable for comment.
Kane spokesman Chuck Ardo said yesterday that his office is conducting an audit to "determine who saw what, when and how" last year.
"I can't tell you whether they've seen them," Ardo said. "I can tell you they certainly had access to them."
Kane also confirmed yesterday that the emails referred to in last week's Daily News story were among those she says were previously provided to the Judicial Conduct Board and Byer.
The emails make fun of Muslims, Mexicans, African-Americans, gays and women. Some were exchanged between Eakin and a senior deputy attorney general. Others were sent by private attorneys to a larger list of recipients, including a district attorney, county judges, assistant U.S. attorneys and other government employees.
Kane has said her office gave the Eakin emails a closer look after the Daily News requested them on Sept. 11. Her office denied the newspaper's request for the emails, but provided them to the Judicial Conduct Board and the State Ethics Commission. The Daily News subsequently obtained some of the emails from a source who requested anonymity.
The state Supreme Court said in a statement this week that its members are "disturbed by the content" of the emails.
On Twitter: @wbender99