The Senate found U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr. guilty on four articles of impeachment Wednesday, removing him from his lifetime appointment to the federal bench in Louisiana and denying him his federal pension. Porteous, 63, sat in the well of the Senate as members cast their votes against him. He just the eighth judge in American history to be removed from office by the Senate. Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Impeachment Committee, said that he hoped the decision would help Porteous to make changes in his life, for his own good and that of his family.
"I feel sorry for Judge Porteous. To rise to the dignified position of a federal district judge and then have this happen after 30 years of service I'm sure is an absolute pain, problem and damage to his reputation," Hatch said after the votes. "But the Senate has ruled properly in this matter and the impeachment should be upheld."
In March, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to impeach Porteous on charges of lying and corruption. The Senate then formed a formal impeachment committee, which held more than 40 hours of hearings into the matter.
During the Senate's day-long impeachment trial Tuesday, senators heard from House members who acted as prosecuting attorneys, presenting evidence that Porteous had taken bribes from local attorneys and businessmen with cases before his court over the course of several decades. Attorneys said Porteous then lied about.....
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Poster Comment:
Somebody should take Hatch outside and bitch slap him until he cries. Here he is APOLOGIZING for removing a corrupt judge from his seat. This just goes to show you how bleeping corrupt the Gang of 100 really is. The SOB took bribes and kickbacks for DECADES,and these bastards feel sorry for him because he got caught! And of course you KNOW Porteous is a Dim and was a Dim appointee because the media is totally silent about who appointed him. If he had been appointed by a Republican,that would have been a part of the headline.