PITTSBURGH — Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice Joan Orie Melvin has filed a federal appeal of her campaign corruption conviction and sentence.

Among other claims, Melvin argues she was wrongly prosecuted for violating work rules — not state laws — governing how and when state employees can do political work. She also contends being forced to write apologies to every other state judge violated her right against self-incrimination.

“The primary purpose of the appeal is to have the court find that the use of the workplace rule to prosecute Melvin is criminalizing HR (or human resources) rules,” Melvin’s attorney, Patrick Casey said Monday. Melvin faced sanctions as stiff as removal from office if the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline found that she wrongly used her staff to campaign, Casey said, so any attempt to criminalize her behavior beyond that is illegal.

Melvin, 59, a Republican, resigned from office after her 2013 conviction and was fined $55,000 and sentenced to three years of house arrest for using her state-paid staff to work on her Supreme Court campaigns. Melvin ran unsuccessfully in 2003 and was elected to the state’s highest court in 2009.

The high-profile case — Melvin became only the second sitting Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice convicted of a crime — gained more notoriety when Allegheny County Judge Lester Nauhaus ordered her photographed in handcuffs immediately after sentencing.

Nauhaus did so because he wanted Melvin to send the signed apologies to other judges on copies of the picture.

But the state Superior Court rejected the photograph requirement.