Legal News

House Impeaches New Orleans Judge Porteous

By Nathan Koppel

This just in: The House of Representatives voted unanimously today to impeach New Orleans federal judge Thomas Porteous.

Here’s an AP report on the vote ─ a very rare rebuke.

Only 14 federal judges have ever been impeached.

The House approved four impeachment articles charging Porteous with taking payoffs and lying under oath. The case now goes to the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is needed to convict the judge of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

As we explained here, Porteous has been accused of soliciting money from lawyers who appeared before him.

The Justice Department conducted an earlier investigation into the bribery allegations and decided not to indict Porteous. However, a federal judicial panel in September 2008 suspended the Clinton appointee, saying his failure to disclose personal gifts bought by lawyers who had appeared before him had brought "disrepute to the federal judiciary."

(Here's a WSJ article on the case.)

If convicted in the Senate, Judge Porteous would become the eighth federal judge in U.S. history to be impeached and convicted, the AP reports. It has been 20 years since a judge was removed through impeachment.

Wisconsin Republican James Sensenbrenner said Judge Porteous’s misconduct was so serious that he’s “one of a kind and it’s time for him to receive his comeuppance.”

Richard Westling, the judge’s attorney, said the vote was expected. But, he said, “we are surprised by the claims of some representatives that the Justice Department did not bring criminal charges because of the statute of limitations. . . The decision not to prosecute was based purely on a lack of sufficient credible evidence. Unfortunately, the House has decided to disregard the Justice Department's decision and to more forward with impeachment. As a result, we will now turn to the Senate to seek a full and fair hearing of all of the evidence.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 11, 2010 (boomark / email).