J. Michael Eakin (born 1948) is an American lawyer, who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was elected to the State's Supreme Court in 2001 as a Republican. In November 2011, Justice Eakin won judicial retention in a statewide election for his second 10-year term with 73.6% of the popular vote. In response to an ethics investigation, he made his resignation public on March 15, 2016. Early life and career Justice Eakin was born in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in 1948. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Government and obtained his Juris Doctor (JD) degree from The Dickinson School of Law in 1975. In 2005 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. He served in Pennsylvania's Army National Guard, 28th Division, from 1971-1977. After graduating from law school in 1975 and until 1983, he served as an Assistant District Attorney for Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. In 1984 he became the District Attorney for Cumberland County, PA, a position he held until 1995 when he was elected as a Judge for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. This is a position he held until 2001 when he was elected to a 10-year term on the state's Supreme Court. He is currently married to Heidi Eakin and has three sons, Michael, Zachary and Chase. In 2001, he was named runner up "Politician of the Year" by PoliticsPA. Rhyming opinions Justice Eakin is better known in legal circles for the unorthodox way he pens his opinions. He enjoys writing his opinions in poetic verse when as he has stated, "The subject of the case (…) call[s] for a little grin here or there." For this, he has joined a long list of Justices and Judges who have been heavily criticized for bringing literary insight into what has traditionally been considered as boring and straight forward judicial decision making. An example of the types of judicial lyricism that Justice Eakin is known for is this rhyme he wrote regarding a premarital contract gone wrong: Another example of his verse would be this rhyme he wrote regarding a contract dispute: Perhaps his most currently commented opinion is his dissent on Noel v. Travis, where he disagreed with the majority who found that the appellant was in fact not guilty of a DUI after being