By Dustin Slaughter
Chris Brennan at the Daily News reports that Chief Justice Ron Castille, on a conference call with reporters yesterday, says that any members of the state judiciary who sent or received pornographic emails would be violating the judicial code of conduct.
“I want to make sure that, if they are involved, they have to pay the piper,” Castille said. “It’s just sad for us as a branch of government if anyone is involved in this type of activity.”
Exchanging sexually explicit emails on a state computer would be in violation of the law. Conflict of interest issues could also arise if judges exchanged emails with prosecutors.
“If you’re emailing back and forth with the Attorney General’s Office as a judge, it might show you have a conflict that will require you to recuse yourself from these cases,” Castille explained to reporters.
The emails were discovered during Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s investigation into the Corbett administration’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky case.
State officials now implicated in the scandal include Police Commissioner Frank Noonan, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Chris Abruzzo, former Secretary of Legislative Affairs Chris Carusone, former press secretary and current Corbett re-election advisor Kevin Harley, DEP oil and gas regulator Glenn Parno, and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Special Investigation Chief Patrick Blessington.
The Philly Declaration 
