PA Gov. Wolf Withdraws Judge’s Nomination After Racist Email

Tom Corbett, left, shakes the hand of Centre County Judge Thomas King Kistler after a ceremony where Corbett signed into law a bill that will provide $2.3 billion a year for improvements to Pennsylvania's highways, b... Tom Corbett, left, shakes the hand of Centre County Judge Thomas King Kistler after a ceremony where Corbett signed into law a bill that will provide $2.3 billion a year for improvements to Pennsylvania's highways, bridges and mass-transit systems, Monday, Nov. 25, 2013 in Potter Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Centre Daily Times, Nabil K. Mark) MANDATORY CREDIT; MAGS OUT MORE LESS
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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has decided to withdraw his nomination of Centre County judge Thomas K. Kistler (pictured, right) for the state’s Supreme Court after a racist email was made public last week, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Wolf’s decision to withdraw the Kistler’s nomination came after news broke that the latter had sent a racially insensitive email, depicting a black couple talking through glass by a jailhouse phone. The heading of the email read “Merry Christmas from the Johnsons.”

In an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Kistler said he didn’t remember sending the December 2013 email, which more than 20 people received, but he didn’t deny sending it, either.

Kistler said that if he did send the email, it wouldn’t have been meant to mock African Americans. Kistler said the message behind the email would have been “Christmas goes on, even for the people we put in jail.”

Wolf had previously praised Kistler as “extremely qualified.”

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Notable Replies

  1. Good. Zero tolerance.

  2. Better late than never. Glad he rushed in to correct this completely horrible choice. Gov. Wolf clearly needs much better advisors. Hopefully they are not hold-overs from the last administration in PA. He needs to get outside help if his area of expertise in not the legal profession. He’s a business guy. There are plenty of democratic judicial and lawyers groups, that could be of assistance to him in this area I would think. Try the ACLU governor. Maybe they can help.

  3. Avatar for jinnj jinnj says:

    How does somebody in this role have such a brain lapse to forward (even as a poor attempt at humor) such a joke. Let’s say the judge is not a rampant racist (?) … fine … but there’s no disputing he is colossally stupid! - it is as imbecilic as sending dick pix … and at very least, demonstrates serious lack of common sense.

  4. But he is a Judge now. And Black people almost certainly come before him now.

  5. Avatar for chammy chammy says:

    Amen to that.

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