More Bad News for Pennsylvania's Corbett: Judge Tosses Out His Suit Against the NCAA

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, who is facing reelection in 2014 with terrible approval ratings, got some bad news Thursday when a federal judge threw out his lawsuit against the NCAA. Corbett was looking to void the stiff penalties the NCAA imposed on Penn State following the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal. 

For Corbett, the attempt to turn the Penn State scandal in his favor by overturning a $60 million fine and a four-year bowl ban from the NCAA seems to have backfired. The failed suit now looks to be another unfortunate reminder to Pennsylvania voters of the governor's role in the scandal, when he served as the state's attorney general. 

And while the courts may be done with the governor's Penn State suit, Penn State is not done with the governor. The family of the school's late football coach Joe Paterno is still suing the NCAA, which will keep the scandal—and Corbett's association with it—squarely in the news. And, as National Journal's Michael Catalini recently reported, Pennsylvania's Democratic attorney general is still in the midst of an investigation into how Corbett handled the Sandusky affair, and she plans to leave "no stone unturned."