There’s been plenty for the public to frown at when discussing the court in recent history, court watchers and academics said, and the last year has been no different.

Analysis

When Allegheny County’s district attorney filed charges against two of state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin’s sisters earlier this month, the conversation among court watchers included the question of what effect the news could have on the high court’s newest justice, and the court as a whole.