Impeachment trial begins for Judge Porteous

The Senate today began the impeachment trial of Hon. G. Thomas Porteous, Jr. of the Eastern District of Louisiana.  If the Senate votes in favor of impeachment, Porteous would be the eighth federal judge to be removed from the bench, and the first since 1989 when Hon. Walter L. Nixon was impeached on charges of perjury before a federal grand jury. Porteous, who has been suspended with pay since 2008, has been accused of accepting bribes while a state court judge and lying to the Senate and the F.B.I. The House voted unanimously in March to impeach Porteous, who was appointed to the bench in 1994 by President Clinton. A two-thirds Senate majority is required to convict.