Pa. high court: Preserve records

The state Supreme Court has changed its tune on records it initially ordered destroyed. From the AP:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court now says it wants to preserve the records of thousands of juveniles who appeared before an allegedly corrupt judge between 2003 and 2008.

The high court had wanted to destroy the records. That would have prevented northeastern Pennsylvania juveniles from pursuing federal claims against the judge and kept secret the extent of his misconduct.

Attorneys asked a federal judge last week to order the preservation of more than 6,000 records as evidence in their lawsuit against former Judge Mark Ciavarella and others in Luzerne County.

The Supreme Court says it no longer objects to the records' preservation.

Prosecutors say Ciavarella took millions of dollars to put juvenile offenders in privately owned detention centers.