Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery announced this week that he will be retiring from the bench. The court had previously suspended him amid allegations that he had sent or received hundreds of sexually explicit and pornographic emails from 2008 to 2012 to members of the Attorney General’s office. The scandal erupted last month when Attorney General Kathleen Kane, in response to requests from news organizations, released the names of the men who sent or received such emails.

McCaffery, who had been in a long standing feud with Chief Justice Ron Castille, accused the chief justice of waging a “relentless crusade to destroy his career and reputation.”  Prior to his resignation, Judge McCaffery had vowed that he would ultimately be “cleared of any wrongdoing and returned to the bench soon.”

The suspension of Judge McCaffery came after allegation of extortion by another justice, J. Michael Eakin.  In a complaint filed with the state’s Judicial Conduct Board on October 17, 2014, Judge Eakin said McCaffery had urged him to get Castille to back down on his public statements about the porn.  McCaffery allegedly said that he was “not going down alone” and that he would reveal explicit and racist emails Eakin received, if Eakin did not agree to get Castille to back down.

Pursuant to the order suspending McCaffery, the Court had asked the Judicial Conduct Board to determine within 30 days whether there was “probable cause to file formal misconduct charges against Justice McCaffery.”  However, given that the judge has now retired and agreed not to seek senior judge status and not to again seek elective judicial office, the Judicial Conduct Board has dismissed all of its investigations into McCaffery’s conduct.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/10/27/pennsylvania-high-court-justice-resigns-amid-email-scandal/

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/cityhall/Seamus-McCaffery-retiring-from-PA-Supreme-Court.html