SCRANTON — A federal judge was asked today to preserve thousands of juvenile court records in a Pennsylvania judicial scandal — evidence the state Supreme Court declared should be destroyed.

The high court's plan to delete more than 6,000 records will prevent youths in northeastern Pennsylvania from pursuing federal civil rights claims against a corrupt judge and keep secret the extent of the judge's misconduct, lawyers for some of the children asserted in federal court.

Earlier this year, prosecutors charged Mark Ciavarella and another former Luzerne County judge, Michael Conahan, with taking $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in privately owned lockups. The judges pleaded guilty to fraud and face more than seven years in prison.

The Supreme Court last week ordered the preservation of records of some 400 youths who have sued the judges. The court's order did not cover youths who aren't part of the litigation, but who might be entitled to damages if the case is certified a class action.

Attorneys want those records preserved, too, saying that without them, the youths' claims would be difficult to prove. They asked U.S. District Judge Richard Caputo to save the records of all 6,500 youths who appeared before Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, not just the ones who have sued.

By The Associated Press