Joan Orie Melvin

Education

Melvin graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1978 with a B.A. in Economics. She earned her J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law in 1981.

Legal career

From 1981 to 1985, Melvin served as a corporate counsel and was engaged in a private law practice, concentrating in civil litigation. She was appointed to the Pittsburgh Municipal Court as Magistrate Judge in 1985 and Chief Magistrate Judge in 1987. There, she established Pennsylvania’s first Domestic Violence Court. She was judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, being appointed to fill a vacancy in 1990 and then getting elected to a full term in 1991. She served in the court's civil, criminal and family divisions. She was elected as a judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 1997 and won retention in 2007. She ran twice for justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as a Republican, but lost to Max Baer in 2003. In 2009, she was elected to a 10-year term.

Suit against "Grant Street 99"

Melvin was the plaintiff in the case of Melvin v. Doe (575 Pa. 264), in which she sued to uncover the identity of the anonymous blogger "Grant Street 99," who posted allegations that Melvin had engaged in misconduct by lobbying then-Governor Tom Ridge to appoint an attorney for a judicial seat. The case was appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which ruled in 2003 that anonymous political speech is protected by the First Amendment. In 2004, Melvin dropped her lawsuit.

Arrest and suspension

On April 7, 2010, two of Melvin's sisters, Pennsylvania state senator Jane Orie and Janine Orie, were arrested and charged with theft of services and criminal conspiracy following a Pittsburgh grand jury investigation. They were accused of using Jane Orie's senate staff and office resources to help run their sister's 2009 campaign for the state supreme court.

On May 17, 2012, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Melvin was expected to be charged the next day as a result of the investigation. On May 18, 2012, Melvin was indicted on nine criminal counts alleging she used legislative and judicial staff to perform campaign work. She was immediately suspended by the court.

On February 21, 2013, Justice Orie Melvin was found guilty on three counts of felony-classed theft of services, one count of conspiracy to commit theft of services, also classified as felony, and one count each of misdemeanor misapplication of government property and conspiracy to tamper with evidence.

On May 7, 2013, Orie Melvin was sentenced to 3 years of house arrest followed by 2 years of probation. She was also ordered to perform community service in a soup kitchen 3 days a week, to send a hand-written apology to every judge in the state along with a picture of herself in handcuffs, and to pay for the cost of the photograph. A Pennsylvania state appeals court panel in August 2014 vacated the requirement that the apologies to her fellow judges include the photograph of her in handcuffs as a punitive penalty that was not allowed under state law because it served no legitimate rehabilitative or corrective ends. However, it upheld the house arrest and probation, the community service, and requirement that she send apology letters to the judges and to her staff who performed illegal acts under her orders or direction. The ruling did not affect the sentences of the others involved; in a separate ruling, her sister Janine Orie's conviction was upheld. Orie Melvin, through her attorney, was said to be dissatisfied with the overall ruling and is evaluating the decision; other than that statement, both sides declined to comment. The various state and federal laws in the United States usually always stipulate that a judge, or any other government official, who is convicted of a felony, especially once all avenues for appeal are exhausted (though they have not yet been, in this case) and the conviction definitively upheld, must resign; if they do not do so voluntarily by that point, there are usually provisions that allow for their removal or impeachment.