Joan Orie Melvin

Joan Orie Melvin is a Republican former Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and a convicted felon. She was born in Pittsburgh to a Western Pennsylvania political family.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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