The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has denied state Attorney General Kathleen Kane's efforts to throw out a potential prosecution against her for allegedly leaking confidential grand-jury information.

Kane had challenged the authority of a supervising grand jury judge to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations that she leaked the confidential material. However, the Supreme Court, split 4-1, ruled that the supervising judge acted within his authority.

“Regarding the separation-of-powers concern, this court has strongly defended the independent role of the judiciary in vindicating the authority ascribed to it by the constitution, particularly as it relates to conduct which is contemptuous of a court,” said Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor, who wrote the opinion announcing the judgment of the court. “Sitting supervising judges are in the best position to address even historical breaching, since such infractions arise from confidential proceedings with which such jurists are most intimately associated, and particularly where the previous supervising judge is unavailable.”