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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Courts - "Pa. justices won raise for upholding slots law, lawsuit claims"
[Howard Bashman of How Appealing has posted the links to this story and has uploaded the complaint.]
The AP is reporting today:
HARRISBURG -- The League of Women Voters sued Pennsylvania's former chief justice yesterday, alleging that the Supreme Court upheld the state's slot machine gambling law in exchange for approval of a judicial pay raise.The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Harrisburg, names former Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy and cites allegations and information provided by unnamed legislators. It says Justice Cappy used secret meetings with legislators to negotiate the ruling on the slots law and pay raises for more than 1,000 judges, including himself and six other Supreme Court justices.
The 17-page lawsuit cites an allegation by an unnamed senator, although it does not say how the senator knows about the alleged deal.
The lawsuit claims Justice Cappy told legislators of one particular caucus during a meeting that "he needed the pay raise to secure the votes of Republican justices" on cases important to them.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 20, 2008 10:58 AM
Posted to Courts in general