The high court, in a 4-0 decision, ruled that Griffin's 1984 federal convictions constituted "infamous crimes," which under the state constitution bars a person from holding an office of trust or profit in Pennsylvania.

After the decision, Griffin's attorney, Samuel C. Stretton, said: "I just got the bad news a short while ago. I'm sick about it." He said that when he informed Griffin, "it was the hardest thing I ever did." Her reaction was "better than mine. She's a very strong person."

Stretton said Griffin will practice law again, presumably in Philadelphia. It's a "real loss to the bench," he said.

Griffin, 54, was sworn in as a Municipal Court judge in 2002, after being elected the year before. She was retained last November.

The high court's opinion, written by Justice Thomas G. Saylor, said: "There is no dispute that her [Griffin's] offenses were crimen falsi [crimes of deceit] and, as the Commonwealth correctly points out, such offenses - when committed by an official ultimately imbued with the public trust - have broadly been viewed to undermine the public administration of justice."

Justices Michael Eakin, Max Baer and Debra Todd concurred.

Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille and Justice Seamus McCaffery had recused themselves because they had worked with Griffin in Philadelphia. Castille was Philadelphia district attorney when she was a prosecutor.

The court's decision follows a complaint filed last year by the state Attorney General's Office and the District Attorney's Office requesting Griffin be barred from the bench.

The high court heard arguments in the case March 5.

The commonwealth's argument for Griffin's removal was that Griffin had been convicted of felonies, making her ineligible to hold public office.

Both sides disputed what type of crimes should be "infamous."

Stretton agreed that under state law, any felony is an "infamous crime," but he argued that the term should be reserved for severe offenses that affect the public administration of justice.

He argued in his brief that Griffin's 1984 plea "did not involve a violation of the public trust and it did not affect the public administration of justice."

"There is nothing about the crime of submitting a false social security number in a private commercial transaction that affects the public administration of justice," he wrote.

Griffin was indicted in U.S. District Court in Georgia in April 1984 on four felony counts of falsifying her Social Security number.

She was then located in New York, where her case was transferred. In August 1984, she pleaded guilty to two felony counts - both involving applications she had filled out in 1982, before she had entered law school. One application involved a department-store charge account; the other, a bank credit-card application.

Kevin Harley, spokesman for Attorney General Thomas Corbett, said yesterday: "We are pleased with the Supreme Court's unanimous decision. Obviously, we believe they reached the right decision on the law."

District Attorney Lynne Abraham had not read the decision and would not immediately comment, spokeswoman Cathie Abookire said.

Philadelphia Police Homicide Lt. Philip Riehl applauded the decision, saying that Griffin's "felony background, based on fraud and deception" did not fit with her need to be objective.

The state Judicial Conduct Board had previously filed a complaint to remove Griffin from the bench, but the state Supreme Court ruled last March that the board did not have standing to bring such an action. *