A former state Supreme Court justice has agreed to have her ability to practice law in federal court suspended while she appeals her conviction and sentence on public corruption charges.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports a federal judge gave Joan Orie Melvin 30 days at the end of last month to provide any reason why her membership in the federal bar shouldn't be suspended following the state Supreme Court's suspension of her law license in June.
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Her attorney, William Arbuckle, filed a response saying that Melvin agrees to a temporary suspension.
Melvin and her sister avoided prison time for their corruption convictions earlier this year when they were sentenced to house arrest for what a judge called crimes of "arrogance."
Melvin was sentenced to three years of house arrest followed by two years of probation after being convicted of misusing state-paid staff members to campaign for a seat on the high court in 2003 and 2009.
Although Allegheny County Judge Lester Nauhaus stopped short of incarcerating either woman, which is what prosecutors sought, he chided Melvin in particular for her conceit and her claims that she had always tried to be a role model for her children.
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"What kind of role model are you? These are felonies, this isn't a parking ticket, and your children's mother is a convicted felon," Nauhaus told Melvin, a married mother of six.
