Sitting In Judgment

The House has unanimously voted to impeach Louisiana federal Judge Thomas Porteous.

The House voted unanimously on Thursday to impeach a Louisiana federal judge for a range of ethical transgressions.

The Senate will now pick up the case against Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr., with a two-thirds vote required to convict him. If that occurs, Judge Porteous would become the eighth federal judge impeached and convicted.

Judge Porteous, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Bill Clinton in 1994, was accused of accepting bribes and making false statements during both his personal bankruptcy proceedings and to the Senate and the F.B.I. during his confirmation process for the federal bench.

The evidence hearings in December were stunning.

In the opening hearing, House investigators said Judge Porteous had accumulated more than $150,000 in credit card debt by 2000, mostly for cash advances spent in casinos.

Two New Orleans lawyers who once worked with Judge Porteous said they had given him at least $20,000 in cash while he was a judge, including $2,000 stuffed in an envelope in 1999, just before Judge Porteous decided a major civil case in their favor.

After they complained to Judge Porteous about his solicitations for cash and threatened to cut him off, the lawyers said, Judge Porteous began sending court-appointed work to their firm. In return, they say, they sent some of their fees to the judge.

At another hearing, the lawyer that Judge Porteous hired for his 2001 bankruptcy discussed how they initially filed it under the name “Orteous,” with a hastily arranged post office box as the judge’s address to keep his name out of the newspaper. House investigators said Judge Porteous also lied about his debts and assets in an effort to lower his bankruptcy payments.

Later, a New Orleans bail bondsman, Louis Marcotte, testified that he and Judge Porteous had a longstanding relationship in which Mr. Marcotte routinely took Judge Porteous to lavish meals at restaurants in the French Quarter and offered his employees to work on Judge Porteous’s cars and home. In return, Judge Porteous manipulated bond amounts for defendants to give Mr. Marcotte the highest fees possible, said Mr. Marcotte, who served 18 months in prison on related corruption charges.

Judge Porteous also erased criminal convictions for two of Mr. Marcotte’s employees.

“I knew he was struggling,” Mr. Marcotte testified, adding that the judge would have “five, six Absolut and tonics” at lunch.

“I asked him for things, and he asked me for things,” Mr. Marcotte said.

This guy is crooked as hell, like some fictional character.  Now he faces a different trial...in front of the Senate.

Ironically, at least half the folks in the Senate are more crooked than Porteous is.  How's that for justice?