WILKES-BARRE -- A state Supreme Court justice came home Wednesday night to speak to a neighborhood crime watch in his home community. And for the former D.A. of Luzerne County, it was a welcome break in what has become a spectacularly controversial year for the state's highest court.
"Porn is a bad subject on the Supreme Court right now. I don't know if you've been following the news."
Speaking at a meeting of Wilkes-Barre's crime watch organization, state Supreme Court Justice Correale Stevens could joke--a little--about the ongoing troubles on the state's highest court, but privately he admits it's no laughing matter.
"My office is in Drums, Luzerne County. I didn't let it distract me. It's a difficult time for everybody." Justice Stevens said.
The "difficult time" to which he refers is a series of events unprecedented in Pennsylvania Supreme Court history.
It began last year when Justice Joan Orie Melvin was convicted of corruption and sent to prison.
Justice Stevens, then on the state Superior Court, was elevated to the state Supreme Court to take her seat.
But the high court found itself back in the headlines this year when Justice Seamus McCaffery suddenly resigned in the wake of a pornographic email scandal.
McCaffery's resignation, though, came only after days of public sniping between him and Chief Justice Ron Castille, who both released statements to the media blasting the other. Then another justice accused McCaffery of blackmail. Had he not resigned, McCaffery would have faced an investigation.
Through it all, Justice Stevens managed to stay above the fray.
"We're just going to keep working and we have a lot of cases and we hope this is behind us, and we just want to regain the public's trust and confidence."
Justice Stevens says McCaffery's resignation leaves the court short-handed, with a heavy caseload.
He says the court will re-convene next week and get back to work, hopefully with a lot less controversy.