August 8, 2009

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an order last on August 8, 2009 to preserve the court records of all juveniles adjudicated or placed by former judge Mark A. Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008. The preservation order calls for all records to be retained under seal until the termination of the lawsuits against Ciavarella, and the records may only be accessed with the written authorization of Special Master Arthur E. Grim. In a previous preservation order issued last month, only the records of those juveniles named as plaintiffs in the lawsuits against Ciavarella were to be preserved but thousands of other juveniles’ court records were to be destroyed. The broader preservation order allows further investigation into Ciavarella’s potential misdeeds and gives a much larger group of affected juveniles an opportunity to become involved in the lawsuits against him.

PA Supreme Court Order