Dec 23, 2015 2 min read

Aside from the raunchy, disgusting, and offensive e-mail “jokes” said to have been communicated to and from State Supreme Court Justice Michael Eakin is an equally serious matter: his alleged banter with a friend about visiting strip clubs.

I am currently in my 32nd year of service for the Commonwealth, having served for more than 13 years in a quasi-judicial position which subjects me to a Code of Ethics. Within the code, it is noted that an individual who occupies my position is subject to public scrutiny both on and off the job, and that it is necessary that I comport myself in a professional and dignified manner at all times, noting that in some respects, I am always considered to be “on duty.”

If Justice Eakin has visited or were planning to visit strip clubs, he would serve to demonstrate that the rules apply only to “the little people,” a putrid message to send to his fellow public employees. Even a discussion of it serves to diminish the judiciary, the branch of government in which the public must have complete confidence.

As the public has become aware of the justice’s correspondence, he has apologized and has expressed embarrassment. He asserts in his defense that his conduct was out of character. Whether or not that is the case, to paraphrase Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s infamous remark at the hearings into the Benghazi attack, “what difference, at this point, does it make”?

I foresee the justice’s resignation. He would be well-advised to tender it sooner rather than later to minimize the latest stain on a disgraced court and a commonwealth government steeped in corruption and shenanigans. Perhaps Mr. Eakin can spend his retirement with a fellow fallen jurist Seamus McCaffery, laughing about all that is not funny.

Oren M. Spiegler

Upper Saint Clair