On June 19, 2008, the Speaker of the House of Representatives received a referral regarding U.S. District Court Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr. of the Eastern District of Louisiana. The Senate convicted him on all four articles of impeachment later that year. Judge Kent was impeached by the House of Representatives. His Senate impeachment trial was dismissed after he resigned from office and the House indicated that it did not wish to pursue the matter further. The statutory framework stems from the Judicial Improvements Act of 2002, P.L. 107-273 , Div. §§351-364. The current statutory procedures are applicable to complaints against federal circuit judges, district judges, bankruptcy judges, and magistrate judges. In addition, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Court of International Trade, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit are each required to prescribe rules, consistent with the provisions in 28 U.S.C. If the Judicial Conference concurs in the judicial council's determination that impeachable offenses may be involved, or if the Judicial Conference makes its own determination that consideration of impeachment may be warranted, the conference must certify and transmit the determination and the record of proceedings to the House of Representatives for whatever action the House considers necessary. If a judge has been convicted of a federal or state felony and has exhausted direct appeals of the conviction or if the time to seek further direct review has passed and no such review has been sought, then that judge shall not hear or decide cases unless the judicial council of the circuit in the case of federal circuit judges, district judges, bankruptcy judges, or magistrate judges; or the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Court of International Trade, or the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit, respectively, in the case of a judge of one of those courts, determines otherwise. § 353(c) to the complainant and to the judge who is the subject of the complaint; (2) the judicial council of the circuit, the Judicial Conference of the United States, or the Senate or the House by resolution, releases any such material believed necessary to an impeachment investigation or trial of a judge under article I of the Constitution; or (3) such disclosure is authorized in writing by the judge who is the subject of the complaint and by the chief judge of the circuit, the Chief Justice, or the chairman of the standing committee established under 28 U.S.C. It does not apply to U.S. Supreme Court Justices. As in the recent cases of Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr. and Judge Samuel B. Kent, where an investigation under this judicial discipline process uncovers conduct which may rise to the level of an impeachable offense, the matter may be referred by the Judicial Conference of the United States to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for the House to consider whether to pursue impeachment of the judge involved.
The current statutory structure with respect to complaints against federal judges and judicial discipline was enacted on November 2, 2002, as the Judicial Improvements Act of 2002, P.L. 107-273, 28 U.S.C. §§ 351-364. These provisions are applicable to federal circuit judges, district judges, bankruptcy judges, and magistrate judges. They do not apply to the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Court of International Trade, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit are each directed to prescribe rules consistent with these provisions to address complaints pertaining to their own judges.
The procedures under 28 U.S.C. §§ 351-364 include a complaint process, review of complaints initially by the chief judge of the circuit within which the judge in question sits, and, if appropriate, referral of the complaint to a special investigating committee, to a panel of the judicial council of the circuit involved, and, if needed, to the Judicial Conference of the United States. At any point in the process, as deemed appropriate, action may be taken on the complaint. Where a complaint alleges conduct that may rise to the level of impeachable offenses, the Judicial Conference may certify that the matter may warrant consideration of impeachment and transmit the determination and the record of proceedings to the House of Representatives for whatever action the House of Representatives considers necessary.
Two such referrals were received by the House in the 111th Congress regarding Judge Samuel B. Kent of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Judge Kent was impeached by the House of Representatives. His Senate impeachment trial was dismissed after he resigned from office and the House indicated that it did not wish to pursue the matter further. Judge Porteous was also impeached by the House of Representatives. On December 8, 2010, the Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment, voted to convict Judge Porteous on all four of the articles of impeachment brought against him. A judgment of removal from office flowed automatically from his conviction. In a rare additional judgment, the Senate disqualified him from holding federal office in the future.