Judicial Discipline Process: An Overview (CRS Report for Congress)
Premium Purchase PDF for $24.95 (13 pages)
add to cart or
subscribe for unlimited access
Pro Premium subscribers have free access to our full library of CRS reports.
Subscribe today, or
request a demo to learn more.
| Release Date |
April 7, 2011 |
| Report Number |
R41758 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Emily C. Barbour, Legislative Attorney |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
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.
