Legal News

House Task Force Recommends Impeachment for N.O Judge

By Ashby Jones

Many years ago, my administrative-law professor asked my class which branch of government we felt was most “trustworthy.” Why he asked us this, I don’t recall, other than to show perhaps how unified and predictable we were in our thinking. Because we were: En masse, hands shot up when he threw out “the judiciary” as a possible answer.

Were the professor to assemble us now, years later, and ask the same question, I imagine the answer would largely be the same. But I bet more of us would pause before sending our arms skyward. Because the judiciary — on both the state and federal level — has has come under serious fire. Sam Kent, Elliot “Spike” Maynard, Manuel Real. The names stack up.

The latest to come under serious fire: New Orleans federal judge Thomas Porteous. A House task force on Thursday recommended unanimously that Congress impeach him. Porteous has been accused of improperly taking cash and gifts and lying during his Senate confirmation. Click here for the AP story. Click here, here and here for previous LB posts.

Porteous would face four articles of impeachment if the full House accepts the recommendation, which states that he “engaged in a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with the trust and confidence placed in him as a federal judge.”

Among the charges is the allegation that Porteous took cash, gifts and other services from lawyers and a bail bondsman with business before his court.

If the House proceeds with the charges and Porteous is found guilty in the Senate, he would become just the eighth federal judge in U.S. history to be impeached and convicted by Congress.

Porteous offered little in his defense during a series of hearings before the House panel. His defense attorney has acknowledged that Porteous may have shown poor judgment but argues it doesn’t warrant impeachment.

Democrats have mostly led the impeachment charge. But Republicans haven’t shied away from jumping on.

“That’s probably the best thing I can say about this judge is that he brought us together in a spirit of bipartisanship,” Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said after the vote.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 21, 2010 (boomark / email).