Pennsylvania Supreme Court

When former Pennsylvania Justice Joan Orie Melvin was sentenced for politicial corruption, the judge fashioned an unusual sentence:

* three years of house arrest;

* orders to send a picture of herself with an apology written on it to every member of the Pennsylvania judiciary;

* orders to send letters of apology to every member of the staff of her sister, a former state senator also convicted of using taxpayer resources on political campaigns;

* orders to send apologies to every member of her staff ordered to conduct political work even though it is not allowed under the law for government employees to do so;

* orders to send an apology to every member of her family;

* orders to serve in a soup kitchen three times a week, pay a $55,000 fine, and to not use the honorific of justice for the three years she will be on house arrest and for the two years she will be on probation.

The former justice is appealing her sentence, but Allegheny County prosecutors are arguing she could face prison time for violating her probation sentence by not yet sending the letters of apology to the Pennsylvania judiciary, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

PENNSYLVANIA: The register of wills in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, ordered to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples is seeking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's review on whether the lower appellate court had jurisdiction and if the state health department opposing the licenses' issuance made out its burden of proof in the case, Reuters reports: http://whtc.com/news/articles/2013/oct/01/pennsylvania-clerk-appeals-ban...

NEW JERSEY: This state's attorney general has asked a state judge to put a stay in place until the New Jersey Supreme Court can rule on the constitutionality of the state's civil union law when it does not allow same-sex marriage, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The AG argued, Bloomberg reports, "the judge should allow the Supreme Court, 'the ultimate arbiter of substantial constitutional issues, to definitively determine the contested issue and allow that court, if it deems necessary, to take the drastic step of rejecting on constitutional grounds' a state law.": http://mobile.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-01/new-jersey-asks-judge-to-...

WEST VIRGINIA: Lambda Legal has filed a constitutional challenge to WV's ban on same-sex marriage, arguing it violates the plaintiffs's rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, the Associated Press reports: http://m.tribtown.com/view/story/4c19a72e9dbc40cca08b54eb02037d72/WV--Ga...

MISSISSIPPI: A same-sex couple seeking a divorce after getting married in California are litigating to have their marital dissolution recognized under Mississippi family law,WMC-TV reports: http://m.wmctv.com/#!/newsDetail/23551743

That case may be the first of its kind in the state.

In the wake of a ticket-fixing scandal and ensuing federal prosecution, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday on whether the justices, along with the court that hears judicial discipline cases, can suspend judges that get into trouble, @zneedlestli reported for The Legal Intelligencer.