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 Eakin, 67, a Republican first elected in 2001, tendered his
resignation from the state's highest court after admitting to
sending approximately 18 "inappropriate" emails to friends,
according to a statement form his lawyer, William Costopoulos.
Eakin is the second Supreme Court justice caught up in the email
scandal, dubbed "Porngate" by local media.
Justice Seamus McCaffery, a Democrat who traded offensive emails,
was suspended by his fellow justices in October 2014 and later
resigned. Several other state officials linked to the scandal have
also stepped down.
The trove of offensive emails allegedly exchanged by Eakin,
McCaffery and others was discovered unexpectedly during an
investigation by Attorney General Kathleen Kane into how one of her
predecessors, Tom Corbett, had carried out the investigation of Penn
State sexual predator Jerry Sandusky.
 Sandusky, 72, a convicted serial child molester, is serving 30 years
to 60 years in prison.
As a result of the emails, Eakin was slated to go on trial later
this month to determine whether he violated judicial ethics.
Instead, he will file a stipulation of facts that will be reviewed
by the state Court of Judicial Discipline in order to impose a
penalty, Costopoulos said.
The most severe punishment would be the loss of Eakin's pension,
Costopoulos said.
"He has accepted responsibility for the sending of these emails,"
Costopoulos said. "He has apologized to his Court, to the public at
large, to his family and friends, and most recently to the Court of
Judicial Discipline. There is nothing to try."
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Some of the offensive emails allegedly exchanged by Eakin contained
female nudity or ridiculed African-Americans, while others were
misogynistic or homophobic, according to a 48-page ethics complaint.
Eakin also created a fictitious email account in an attempt to
disguise his connection to them, the complaint said.
Kane has held out the email scandal as an example of the "old-boy
culture" she says permeates the state legal system.
The first Democrat and first woman to be elected attorney general in
Pennsylvania, Kane has since seen her law license suspended over
perjury charges stemming from a grand jury leak and has contended
that her troubles were caused by enemies worried she would reveal
the e-mails.
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Joseph Ax and
Alan Crosby)
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