Thomas Porteous

Judge G Thomas Porteous Jr (born 1946) is a United States District Judge for Louisiana, and had been a judge of the Louisiana Judicial District Court from 1984 before being appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in 1994 by President Bill Clinton.

Porteous is well-known for his stance upholding the Constitution's separation of church and state and his judgements in defense of the First Amendment right to free speech.

He has controversially ruled in several landmark cases against the state, including one 2002 case in which he ruled that the state of Louisiana was illegally using federal money to promote religion in its abstinence-only sex education programs. This judgement flew in the face of the stated policy of the administration of President George W. Bush. He ordered the state to stop giving money to individuals or organizations that "convey religious messages or otherwise advance religion" with tax dollars. He said there was ample evidence that many of the groups participating in the Governor's Program on Abstinence were "furthering religious objectives."

Also in 2002, Porteous overturned a federal ban on rave paraphernalia such as glowsticks, pacifiers, and dust masks, which are used at raves (electronic music concerts) where the use of Ecstasy is common, after the American Civil Liberties Union said the ban was unconstitutional. He had previously ruled (1999) against a Louisiana law aimed at banning the late-term abortion procedure known as partial birth abortion in a procedure known as dilation and extraction.

In 2001, Judge Porteous filed for bankruptcy, which led to revelations in the press about his private life, specifically the fact that he was alleged to have had close ties with local bail bond magnate Louis Marcotte III, at the center of a corruption probe, which has more recently led to his being the subject of investigation himself by federal investigators. In May 2006, Porteous, beset by the recent loss of his wife and still under investigation by a federal grand jury, was granted temporary medical leave and began a six-month furlough from the federal bench.

On June 18, 2008 the Judicial Conference of the United States transmitted a certificate [ [http://blog.nola.com/news_impact/2008/06/porteous.pdf Judicial Conference certificate and cover letter] ] to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives expressing the Conference's determination that consideration of impeachment of Judge Porteous might be warranted. The certificate stated that there was substantial evidence that Judge Porteous "repeatedly committed perjury by signing false financial disclosure forms under oath," thus concealing "cash and things of value that he solicited and received from lawyers appearing in litigation before him." In a specific case, "he denied a motion to recuse based on his relationship with lawyers in the case . . . and failed to disclose that the lawyers in question had often provided him with cash. Thereafter, while a bench verdict (that is, a verdict by a judge sitting without a jury) was pending, he solicited and received from the lawyers appearing before him illegal gratuities in the form of cash and other things of value," thus depriving "the public of its right to his honest services." The certificate concluded that this conduct "constituted an abuse of his judicial office" in violation of the Canons of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges.

The certificate also stated that there was substantial evidence that Judge Porteous had "repeatedly committed perjury by signing false financial disclosure forms under oath" in connection with his bankruptcy, allowing "him to obtain a discharge of his debts while continuing his lifestyle at the expense of his creditors," and that he had "made false representations to gain the extension of a bank loan with the intent to defraud the bank."

On September 18, 2008, the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to proceed with an investigation of the bribery and perjury allegations.cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= Pogue |coauthors= |title=House panel moves toward impeaching a judge |url=http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Judge-Impeachment.html |work=New York Times |date=September 18, 2008 |accessdate=2008-09-18 ]

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