Louisiana federal judge, Thomas Porteous from New Orleans has just joined the elite club of the only 13 federal judges to be removed by impeachment in U.S. history, raising the number to 14. The House okayed four impeachment articles charging Porteous with taking bribes and lying under oath. For once, Porteous was successfully able to unite members from both the parties in the House who voted unanimously to have Porteous impeached. This happened on Thursday March 11, and the case now goes to Senate for trial where I am sure Porteous will be able to pull off the 2/3 majority required to have him convicted.
Incidentally, it was this epoch making event that pulled me off my cryogenic slumber, where I was happily time travelling by projecting my astral body. The times of Hammurabi, too many corrupted judges, and Hammurabi had to include measures in his code against corrupted judges. Then there were the ancient lands beyond Indus, and even there in the earliest Hindu civilizations there were edicts against corrupt judges. The Egyptian papyrus scrolls record enough events of corruption of scribes. The bible and especially the Hebrew Scriptures show many passages against corrupt judges. Seems corrupt judges are part of the judiciary from the earliest times of our civilizations. Now, then is Porteous an exception or the general rule? Should he gain the protection of long conventions established from time immemorial, I wonder.
Now, don’t think that I feel sympathetic as a judge, truly. I like democracy, for the people, which means us, always get what we deserve. If we want rights, we need to fight for it. If we want the judges serving the nation, then the fear of the people needs to be put in some times. And I appreciate the House taking up the case, even when Porteous was let off by the judiciary which did not frame any criminal charges against him, ostensibly for lack of evidence, or limitation, or whatever.
Point is, Porteous is gone, and I am back. One funny judge removed from the bench makes place for another funny judge. What do you say?
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