In thwarted move, Justice Eakin tried to install new leaders in city courts

Embattled state Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin tried to install new leaders in Philadelphia's massive court system by pushing his colleagues on the high court to act before three new justices joined the bench this week.

Chief Justice Thomas Saylor and two other justices confirmed Tuesday that Eakin had urged them to put new leaders in place last month, but said they rejected his proposal.

Eakin's move would have cut the new justices out of a major decision, handing out a political plum right before they took office: oversight of the nation's fifth-largest court system.

Leaders of the Philadelphia courts control a $110 million annual budget, bestow lucrative contracts, employ 2,400 workers without civil service protection, make important legal and policy decisions, and hand out coveted assignments to the system's 120 judges.

Eakin's thwarted maneuver was among his last moves before his Dec. 22 suspension from office as he awaits a trial on ethics charges.

The Court of Judicial Discipline suspended the justice over his exchange of what it described as offensive emails containing sexually explicit images or jokes mocking blacks, gays, and other minorities.

Bruce Ledewitz, a law professor at Duquesne University and expert on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, said Eakin's attempt to fill the leadership slots in the Philadelphia courts smacked of old-time patronage politics.

"It's disgusting," he said. "They are supposed to be deciding cases."

He added: "When you talk about doing it before the three join the court, you're talking about a politicized process."

While Eakin's plan would have denied the new justices a role in a key decision, one of them, Kevin Dougherty of Philadelphia, said Tuesday that he supported the move. He said Eakin's plan would have meant "a smooth transition of authority" in city courts.

Until his ascension to the Supreme Court this week, Dougherty was the top leader in the Philadelphia courts, serving both as administrative judge of Common Pleas Court and as chair of the systemwide court governing board.

He said Eakin's proposed move would not have undercut him and the other incoming justices. "The other justices would have had a say," he said. "They could always revisit it."

Dougherty would not identify Eakin's candidate to replace him in the powerful role of administrative judge in city courts. Nor would Justice Debra Todd. Saylor said he could not recall whom Eakin might have suggested.

Eakin did not respond to calls seeking comment Tuesday. Nor did his lawyer.

Sources familiar with the justice's proposal said he told the high court last month that making an early decision on new leadership for the Philadelphia courts would help Dougherty. Choosing new leadership before Dougherty ascended to the Supreme Court, Eakin argued, would spare him from criticism that he had moved too quickly to exercise his new clout as a justice.

Eakin made his pitch last month to the four other justices then on the court - fellow Republicans Saylor and Correale Stevens, and the two Democratic justices, Todd and Max Baer.

In interviews Tuesday at Dougherty's swearing-in at the National Constitution Center, justices said Eakin's idea did not gain traction.

"The bottom line is, the consensus was we should basically wait until the new justices came onto the court," Saylor said.

Todd agreed. "We should not make any major decisions until we are all assembled together as a court after the swearings-in," she said.

Along with Dougherty, the other newly elected justices are Christine Donahue and David Wecht, both former Superior Court judges from the Pittsburgh area.

Their seating switched the court's majority from Republican to Democratic. Stevens, an appointee filling a vacancy, has now left the court. He declined comment.

Donahue could not be reached for comment.

Wecht said Tuesday that he was unaware of Eakin's initiative.

While the high court has not installed a full leadership team in the Philadelphia courts, on Thursday it named Judge Margaret T. Murphy, the city's top Family Court judge and a Dougherty ally, interim chair of the system's governing board.

Justices said the court would meet next week to decide on other leadership positions. Saylor said a key decision would be choosing a Supreme Court justice to replace Eakin as the high court's liaison to the Philadelphia courts.

Baer, an ally of Eakin's on the court, is being eyed for the position, justices said. Baer, a former judge in Allegheny County, said Tuesday that he would be willing to take on the role.

If Baer takes up the post, he would be the second justice from outside Philadelphia to have key oversight of city courts.

Former Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille, of Philadelphia, once held the post, but was stripped of it by his colleagues in an internal court fight in 2013.

Dating back to the 1980s, the leadership of the Philadelphia courts has been split at the very top, with Common Pleas Court judges electing one of their own as president judge and the Supreme Court appointing a parallel administrative judge.

Of the two slots, the administrative judge has the most power. The position pays $178,000 annually.

In recent months, some political leaders have been pushing for the high court to appoint a person of color as the city's administrative judge.

State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, a West Philadelphia Democrat, said such an appointment would be an important way to increase the diversity of court leadership.

In recent months, Williams has been one of Eakin's harshest critics over the emails. In the interview, Williams also castigated the justice's move to fill the leadership spot early.

He said: "It was done as a power play, rather than as a policy move."

cmccoy@phillynews.com

215-854-4821 @CraigRMcCoy