On June 18, 2008, the
Judicial Conference of the United States transmitted a certificate 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. thus concealing "cash and things of value that he solicited and received from lawyers appearing in litigation before him". in violation of the Canons of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. On October 15, 2008, House Judiciary Chair
John Conyers announced that Alan I. Barron had been hired as Special Counsel to lead an inquiry into Judge Porteous' impeachment. Representatives
Adam Schiff (D-CA) and
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) were designated as Chair and
Ranking Member, respectively, to lead the task force conducting the inquiry. The resolution was sponsored by Rep. John Conyers, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, In October 2009, Reps. Conyers and
Lamar Smith introduced a resolution asking to access the judge's tax returns as part of the investigation. The resolution was referred to the
Rules Committee On November 13, Porteous sued the task force, claiming that the panel was violating his
Fifth Amendment rights by using testimony given under
immunity in making the case against him. On January 21, 2010, the panel voted unanimously to recommend four articles of impeachment to the full Judiciary Committee, which, on January 27, voted to send the articles of impeachment to the full House.
Trial of Thomas Porteous Speaker
Nancy Pelosi appointed several members of the task force as managers in the impeachment trial, namely Schiff and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, were named the lead impeachment managers for the Senate trial, The articles of impeachment were sent to the
Senate, where the proceedings were started on March 17. Judicial impeachment trials are rather different than Presidential ones. The President pro Tempore appointed
Claire McCaskill to be the chairperson of a select impeachment trial committee, which would conduct all but the closing arguments of the trial.
Orrin Hatch was vice Chairman and he and McCaskill served as co-judges. After a version of
Voir dire, a jury of senators was chosen to serve on the committee:
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota;
Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island;
Tom Udall, New Mexico;
Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire;
Edward Kaufman, Delaware, for the Democrats, and
Jim DeMint, South Carolina;
John Barrasso, Wyoming;
Roger Wicker, Mississippi;
Mike Johanns, Nebraska; and
James Risch, Idaho, for the Republicans. Trials take a long time to organize, and after an organizational meeting on April 13, 2010, the first sessions of the trial did not begin until August 2. The managers and defense attorney
Jonathan Turley had to what was to all a typical trial. It lasted until September 21. A report finding Porteous provisionally guilty was sent to the Senate floor on December 1, and Turley and Schiff gave their closing statements to the full Senate on December 7. The judge was removed from office the following day by a near-unanimous vote. The trial process had lasted nearly a year. ==Judge Samuel Kent==