Dec. 7, 2010 /EIN Presswire/ – After being unanimously impeached by the House of Representatives in March, federal judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr. of Louisiana is set to begin his impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate this week.
Porteous, who serves in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, would be only the 15th federal judge ever impeached.
The judge is being charged with allegations of corruption and receiving kickbacks, in addition to lying to federal investigators about his nomination to the federal bench. The U.S. Department of Justice decided not to prosecute Porteous because it did not have enough credible evidence.
Porteous has served on the federal bench since 1994 and has been suspended with pay since 2008. The most recent previous impeachment of a federal judge was last year when Judge Samuel B. Kent of the Southern District of Texas resigned on allegations of sexual assault.
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