John L. Micek, Penn Live, February 23, 2015

Thomas Kistler, one of Gov. Tom Wolf’s picks to fill a pair of vacancies on state Supreme Court, will withdraw from consideration today, just one day ahead of an expected confirmation hearing, a highly placed state Senate source with knowledge of the situation said this morning.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said Friday that it was reviewing the appointment of Kistler, a Centre Court Judge, after revelations about a potentially racially insensitive Christmas greeting that Kistler, according to published reports, forwarded to a number of friends in 2013.

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The Senate Judiciary Committee had scheduled a confirmation hearing on Kistler’s nomination for Tuesday, in hopes that he would be eligible to take his place on the bench for a scheduled week of arguments in March.

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