Pennsylvania high court suspends attorney general's law license
Reuters
Published Sep 21, 2015 04:45PM ET
Pennsylvania high court suspends attorney general's law license
By David DeKok
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's highest court on Monday temporarily suspended the law license of embattled Attorney General Kathleen Kane as she fought criminal charges that she leaked confidential information about an investigation to a newspaper reporter.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Kane, a Democrat, can no longer practice law while she fights both permanent removal from the bar and the criminal charges against her. But it stopped short of removing her from office immediately.
"This order should not be construed as removing (Kane) from elected office and is limited to the temporary suspension of her license to practice law," the court said in its order.
There are three Republicans and two Democrats on the high court, as well as two vacancies.
Kane was indicted this summer on charges of leaking protected grand jury information to a Philadelphia newspaper reporter and allegedly lying in testimony about the matter.
She has publicly suggested that the charges against her were retaliation for exposing the sending of sexually explicit or offensive e-mails among former prosecutors who worked for her predecessor and members of the Supreme Court.
The e-mails were discovered accidentally when she investigated how her predecessor, Tom Corbett, carried out his investigation of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was later convicted of sex crimes against boys.
Kane issued a statement on Monday afternoon expressing disappointment in the suspension of her license but gratitude that the court allowed her to continue as attorney general.
Pennsylvania's constitution requires the attorney general to be a member of the Bar Association, but the Supreme Court has always had the last word on matters relating to lawyer discipline.
She vowed to keep working to "root out the culture of misogyny and racially/religiously offensive behavior that has permeated law enforcement and members of the judiciary" in Pennsylvania for years.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.