The Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday ordered Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Deborah S. Griffin to step down because she was a convicted felon when she attained her judgeship.

The state constitution bars high office to anyone convicted of an "infamous crime" such as bribery, perjury, or embezzlement of public money.

Griffin had argued that her offense - using a false Social Security number to apply for credit cards 16 years before her election - did not rise to the level of an infamous crime or affect the "public administration of justice" in her court.

But the Supreme Court, which in 2000 ruled that all crimes of deceit are infamous, ordered her to vacate the bench immediately.

Griffin was elected in 2000 and reelected last year. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office and state Attorney General's Office petitioned for her removal because of the fraud conviction.

Griffin could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Her attorney, Samuel C. Stretton of West Chester, said that he was "surprised and disappointed," but that there was little chance the high court would reconsider and that there was no appeal outside the state.

District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham had not had time to review the 19-page decision and would have no comment, spokeswoman Cathy Abookire said.

In 1984, Griffin, a single mother, pleaded guilty in federal court to having applied for employment and several credit cards using a false Social Security number, a felony.

The court sentenced her to two three-year concurrent sentences but suspended those sentences and ordered her to pay restitution of about $1,200.

Griffin failed to report her guilty plea when she applied for entry to the Pennsylvania bar in 1988.

Despite the district attorney's and attorney general's swift demand for her ouster, her case was delayed many months as the courts tried to decide who had jurisdiction to bring charges against her.

Griffin, who grew up in poverty in Harlem, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her law degree from the University of Missouri, where she was the first African American student to win the moot court competition.