TO CONSIDER POSSIBLE IMPEACHMENT OF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE G. THOMAS PORTEOUS, JR. (PART I) HEARING BEFORE THE TASK FORCE ON JUDICIAL IMPEACHMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 17 AND 18, 2009 Serial No. 111–43 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://judiciary.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 53–638 PDF WASHINGTON : 2010 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:13 Feb 02, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 H:\WORK\JUDIMP\11171809\53638.000 HJUD1 PsN: DOUGA COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY JOHN CONYERS, JR., Michigan, Chairman HOWARD L. BERMAN, California LAMAR SMITH, Texas RICK BOUCHER, Virginia F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., JERROLD NADLER, New York Wisconsin ROBERT C. ‘‘BOBBY’’ SCOTT, Virginia HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina ELTON GALLEGLY, California ZOE LOFGREN, California BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California MAXINE WATERS, California DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia ROBERT WEXLER, Florida STEVE KING, Iowa STEVE COHEN, Tennessee TRENT FRANKS, Arizona HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas Georgia JIM JORDAN, Ohio PEDRO PIERLUISI, Puerto Rico TED POE, Texas MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah JUDY CHU, California TOM ROONEY, Florida LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois GREGG HARPER, Mississippi TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York ADAM B. SCHIFF, California LINDA T. SA´ NCHEZ, California DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida DANIEL MAFFEI, New York PERRY APELBAUM, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel SEAN MCLAUGHLIN, Minority Chief of Staff and General Counsel TASK FORCE ON JUDICIAL IMPEACHMENT ADAM B. SCHIFF, California, Chairman SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., STEVE COHEN, Tennessee Wisconsin HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, JR., DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California Georgia J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia PEDRO PIERLUISI, Puerto Rico LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:13 Feb 02, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 0486 H:\WORK\JUDIMP\11171809\53638.000 HJUD1 PsN: DOUGA C O N T E N T S NOVEMBER 17 AND 18, 2009 Page November 17, 2009 .................................................................................................. 1 November 18, 2009 .................................................................................................. 139 OPENING STATEMENTS The Honorable Adam B. Schiff, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, and Chairman, Task Force on Judicial Impeachment ............... 1 The Honorable Bob Goodlatte, a Representative in Congress from the State of Virginia, and Ranking Member, Task Force on Judicial Impeachment ...... 5 The Honorable Lamar Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, and Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ......................... 7 The Honorable Steve Cohen, a Representative in Congress from the State of Tennessee, and Member, Task Force on Judicial Impeachment .................. 7 The Honorable Henry C. ‘‘Hank’’ Johnson, Jr., a Representative in Congress from the State of Georgia, and Member, Task Force on Judicial Impeach- ment ...................................................................................................................... 8 The Honorable Pedro Pierluisi, a Representative in Congress from Puerto Rico, and Member, Task Force on Judicial Impeachment ................................ 9 WITNESSES Mr. Robert Creely, Attorney, New Orleans, LA Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 19 Mr. Jacob Amato, Jr., Attorney, New Orleans, LA Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 99 Mr. Joseph Mole, Attorney, New Orleans, LA Oral Testimony ..................................................................................................... 140 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Exhibit of Alan Baron, Counsel, Task Force on Judicial Impeachment, sub- mitted by the Honorable Adam B. Schiff, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, and Chairman, Task Force on Judicial Im- peachment ............................................................................................................. 58 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:13 Feb 02, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\WORK\JUDIMP\11171809\53638.000 HJUD1 PsN: DOUGA VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:13 Feb 02, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\WORK\JUDIMP\11171809\53638.000 HJUD1 PsN: DOUGA TO CONSIDER POSSIBLE IMPEACHMENT OF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE G. THOM- AS PORTEOUS, JR. (PART I) TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2009 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, TASK FORCE ON JUDICIAL IMPEACHMENT COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, DC. The Task Force met, pursuant to notice, at 10:36 a.m., in room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Adam Schiff (Chairman of the Task Force) presiding. Present: Representatives Schiff, Cohen, Johnson, Gonzalez, Pierluisi, Goodlatte, Lungren, Gohmert, and Sensenbrenner. Staff Present: Alan Baron, Counsel; Harold Damelin, Counsel; Mark H. Dubester, Counsel; Jessica Klein, Staff Assistant; and Kirsten Konar, Counsel. Mr. SCHIFF. This hearing of the House Judiciary Task Force on Judicial Impeachment will now come to order. Without objection, the Chair will be authorized to declare a recess of the hearing. I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. This hearing has been called to commence the inquiry into whether United States District Court Judge Thomas Porteous should be impeached by the United States House of Representa- tives. Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution vests the sole power of impeachment in the House of Representatives. As has been noted in the past, such a task is not one that we welcome. How- ever, it is an important responsibility that has been entrusted to us by the founders. In late 1999, the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation began a criminal investigation of Judge Porteous. Several years later, the Department of Justice sub- mitted a complaint referring allegations of judicial misconduct con- cerning Judge Porteous to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The complaint noted that the FBI and a grand jury had been inves- tigating Judge Porteous for many years but decided not to bring criminal charges and instead referred the case to the courts and Congress for disciplinary proceedings and potential impeachment. Despite the Department’s decision not to charge Judge Porteous with violations of Federal criminal law, the complaint stated that the investigation uncovered evidence of ‘‘pervasive misconduct com- mitted by Judge Porteous.’’ (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:13 Feb 02, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 H:\WORK\JUDIMP\11171809\53638.000 HJUD1 PsN: DOUGA 2 The complaint states, ‘‘Collectively, the evidence indicates that Judge Porteous may have violated Federal and state criminal laws, controlling canons of judicial conduct, rules of professional respon- sibility, and conducted himself in a manner antithetical to the con- stitutional standard of good behavior required of all Federal judges.’’ The evidence of misconduct cited included the following: one, evi- dence that Judge Porteous solicited and accepted money and other things of value from attorneys and litigants with matters before him; evidence number two, that Judge Porteous accepted things of value from a bail bonds company with business before his judicial district and its owners in exchange for access and assistance; num- ber three, evidence that the judge filed false pleadings and con- cealed assets in a bankruptcy proceeding and violated an order of that court; and number four, evidence that Judge Porteous sub- mitted additional false and misleading statements in official pro- ceedings; number five, further circumstantial evidence that Judge Porteous engaged in corrupt activities; and, finally, number six, that the judge was incompetent to serve. The Department of Justice’s complaint concluded that the in- stances of Judge Porteous’s dishonesty in his own sworn state- ments and court filings, his decade-long course of conduct in solic- iting and accepting a stream of payments and gifts from litigants and lawyers with matters before him, and his repeated failures to disclose those dealings to interested parties and the court all render him unfit as an Article III judge. Upon receipt of the department’s complaint, the fifth circuit ap- pointed a special investigatory committee to investigate the allega- tions. Hearings were held, at which Judge Porteous, representing himself, made statements, cross-examined witnesses, and called witnesses on his own behalf. In November 2007, the special inves- tigatory committee issued a report detailing the findings of their investigation of Judge Porteous. The special committee concluded that the matter should be referred to the Judicial Conference of the United States because Judge Porteous