Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin, who resigned from the high court March 15 in the wake of an email scandal, was ordered Thursday to pay a $50,000 fine.

The Court of Judicial Discipline, which imposed the fine, said the emails Mr. Eakin sent and received on government computers “contained subject matter that involved nudity, gender stereotypes and ethnic stereotypes” and showed a failure “to conduct himself in a manner that promotes confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”

The ruling could have been worse, the court said, but the members took into account that the conduct “was not criminal, nor did it prejudice the proper administration of justice. Other mitigating factors were that Mr. Eakin’s “longtime judicial service was otherwise exemplary” and that he had accepted responsibility and resigned.

Still, the court said, the evidence was “clear and convincing,” especially three emails that were “strikingly egregious” as they discussed judicial employees.

“The common thread of the emails, with their imagery of sexism, racism and bigotry, is arrogance and the belief that an individual is better than his or her peers,” the ruling judges said. “Such beliefs are antithetical to the privilege of holding public office, where the charge is to serve, not demean, our citizens.”

The fine will go toward the state’s general fund. He has six months to pay it. He will be allowed to receive his pension, which amounts to about $140,000 annually. A justice’s annual salary is $191,926.

The emails were sent among Mr. Eakin and members of his “golfing group” in 2010 via a personal address that was anonymous. They became public in the fall of 2014 when Attorney General Kathleen Kane disclosed that a review of the state investigation of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case found former employees of the attorney general’s office had sent or received inappropriate emails.

Justice Seamus McCaffery was found to have sent or received more than 200 explicit emails. The Supreme Court suspended Mr. McCaffery, who elected to retire.

Ms. Kane is facing criminal charges — including perjury and obstruction — that she has claimed were engineered by people trying to cover up the exchange of the emails on state computers. Prosecutors who charged Ms. Kane have said she orchestrated the disclosure of confidential information in an attempt to retaliate against former state prosecutors she believed had embarrassed her in a newspaper story.

The state Supreme Court has suspended Ms. Kane’s law license.

Mr. Eakin, 67, a former Cumberland County district attorney and Superior Court justice, won election to the high court as a Republican in 2001.

In an apology he made in December, Mr. Eakin said the email content did not reflect his character or beliefs.

His attorney, William Costopoulos said Thursday, “It has always been important to former Justice Michael Eakin to impress upon the Court of Judicial Discipline and the court of public opinion that, while he was on the bench for 20 years, every case he participated in was in accordance with the facts and the law.”

“It has been a very difficult ordeal and process for him personally and for his family and we’re all glad that it’s over,” Mr. Costopoulos said.

The Associated Press contributed.

First Published: March 24, 2016, 9:38 p.m.
Updated: March 25, 2016, 4:26 a.m.