Supreme Court

Although Willie Singletary resigned from Philadelphia Traffic Court in February following a scandal involving lewd photos, the state Court of Judicial Discipline formally ordered Thursday that he be removed from his former job. In October, the court issued an opinion stating that Singletary was subject to discipline for his conduct. After news broke late last year that Singletary allegedly showed photos of his genitals to a coworker, the state Supreme Court suspended him without pay in January.

TRENTON - Gov. Christie nominated the head of the Board of Public Utilities and a Superior Court judge Monday to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court, calling his selections a "compromise" with Democrats to end a long-running stalemate over the high court. Robert Hanna, 56, of Madison, Morris County, worked for Christie at the U.S. Attorney's Office, where they coauthored a law journal article. As governor, Christie appointed Hanna to a top job at the Attorney General's Office and later made him president of the BPU, a cabinet position that required Senate confirmation.

For three weeks, the state Supreme Court has had a scathing report on ticket-fixing in Philadelphia Traffic Court, so why haven't the justices, who have authority over the lower court, said what they will do about it? At the very least, those judges who admitted to investigators that they fixed tickets for anyone politically savvy enough to call a ward leader or an elected official's office should be suspended. Their caseloads could be picked up by Municipal Court. Beyond that, it's time to screen candidates who want to be Traffic Court judges based on their abilities and integrity, rather than their fealty to Philadelphia's dominant Democratic Party, which has shown little or no interest in putting forth decent candidates.

The eventual ribbon cutting for Philadelphia's new Family Court will be a relief to many troubled families and children - providing them a modern, accessible setting where broken lives stand a better chance of being put back on track. But the project's bungled and costly path to completion in mid-2015 will be anything but cause for celebration by Pennsylvania taxpayers footing the bill. The final chapter in that saga may have played out Tuesday, with the $4 million settlement of a lawsuit concerning the role of a former project adviser to the state courts, an attorney who later signed on as codeveloper of the courthouse under construction at 15th and Arch Streets.

A LAWSUIT filed last year by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court against a law firm for its role in planning a new Family Court building has been settled, Chief Justice Ronald Castille announced Tuesday. Castille made the announcement during the annual luncheon of the Philadelphia Bar Association. The law firm of Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel has agreed to pay $4 million for the role its former partner, Jeffrey Rottwit, played in selecting a new Center City Family Court site. The deal became an embarrassing debacle after the Inquirer revealed that Rottwit was not only being paid by the court to put together a deal to build the new courthouse, but was also working as a co-developer on the project.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider whether human genes can be patented, taking up an issue that has split the medical community and that will shape the future of personalized health care. The justices said they would hear a challenge to Salt Lake City company Myriad Genetics Inc.'s patents on genetic material used in tests for breast and ovarian cancer. University of Pennsylvania geneticists Arupa Ganguly and Haig Kazazian are among the doctors, researchers, and patients who oppose the patents, arguing that Myriad's monopoly over the genes blocks clinical testing and research.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has revived a Christian college's challenge to President Obama's health-care overhaul, with the acquiescence of the Obama administration. The court on Monday ordered the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., to consider the claim by Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., that the health-care law violates the school's religious freedoms. The court's action means only that the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit must now pass judgment on issues it previously declined to rule on. A federal district judge rejected Liberty's claims, and a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit voted 2-1 that the lawsuit was premature and never dealt with the substance of the school's arguments.

TRENTON - For nearly 30 years, a court ruling aimed at preventing discrimination against low-income families has informed decisions on how much affordable housing New Jersey towns must have. Those guidelines could change significantly if the state Supreme Court agrees with municipalities and the Christie administration that development should determine the number of low-cost units in a town. The court heard arguments on the issue Wednesday during a five-hour hearing. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Appellate Judge Mary Catherine Cuff, who is temporarily filling a vacancy on the high court, were not present.

TRENTON - For nearly 30 years, a court ruling aimed at preventing discrimination against low-income families has informed decisions on how much affordable housing New Jersey towns must have. Those guidelines could change significantly if the state Supreme Court agrees with municipalities and the Christie administration that development should determine the number of low-cost units in a town. The court heard arguments on the issue Wednesday during a five-hour hearing. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Appellate Judge Mary Catherine Cuff, who is temporarily filling a vacancy on the high court, were not present.