Governor Rendell signed the bill Friday.
One week after former judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were given a bit of a verbal smack by federal Judge Edwin Kosik, they got it again at Friday's bill-signing ceremony from none other than the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
"I have never, not only in this state, never in the United States, seen a bribery case of this magnitude," said Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ron Castille of the corruption scandal involving former Luzerne County judges Ciavarella and Conahan.
Both have pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Now the state will form a commission to examine how the juvenile justice system broke down and how to prevent it from ever happening again in Pennsylvania.
"These now former judges gave many juveniles unfair sentences for minor offenses. Others were denied right to counsel," said Governor Ed Rendell.
But it was Chief Justice Castille who had the sharpest comments for Conahan and Ciavarella. He called them rogues and renegades.
"I've seen, reviewed some of these individual cases and in Philadelphia, the police wouldn't even make an arrest," Castille added.
The chief justice, like Governor Rendell, is a former district attorney in Philadelphia who admits he has seen his share of serious crime and corruption but the Luzerne County case, he said, "So this is probably the worst tragedy I have ever seen in the history of the United States."
Chief Justice Castille noted that the new commission could subpoena Conahan and Ciavarella to testify. He added that shouldn't be a problem because, "It seems like judge Ciavarella likes to talk."
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