18 Facts About Thomas Porteous

Thomas Porteous served for sixteen years before being impeached and removed from office in December 2010.

Thomas Porteous received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Louisiana State University in 1968 and a Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University Law School in 1971.

Thomas Porteous was a special counsel to the Office of the State Attorney General, Louisiana from 1971 to 1973.

Thomas Porteous served as Chief of the Felony Complaint Division in the District Attorney's Office, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, from 1973 to 1975.

Thomas Porteous was in private practice in Gretna from 1973 to 1980, and in Metairie from 1980 to 1984.

Thomas Porteous was a city attorney of Harahan from 1982 to 1984.

Thomas Porteous was elected as a judge on the 24th Judicial District Court of Louisiana in 1984 and served until 1994.

Thomas Porteous was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 7,1994, and received his commission on October 11,1994.

Thomas Porteous ordered the state to stop giving money to individuals or organizations that "convey religious messages or otherwise advance religion" with tax dollars.

Also in 2002, Thomas Porteous overturned a federal ban on rave paraphernalia such as glowsticks, pacifiers, and dust masks, originally banned due to the subculture's ties to recreational drugs such as Ecstasy, after the American Civil Liberties Union successfully claimed the ban to be unconstitutional.

Thomas Porteous had previously ruled in 1999 against a Louisiana law aimed at banning the second trimester abortion procedure known as intact dilation and extraction.

Thomas Porteous himself was the subject of investigation by federal investigators.

In May 2006, Thomas Porteous, beset by the recent loss of his home due to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, and the death of his wife a few months later, and still under investigation by a federal grand jury, was granted temporary medical leave and began a year-long furlough from the federal bench.

On June 18,2008, the Judicial Conference of the United States transmitted a certificate to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives expressing the Conference's determination that consideration of impeachment of Thomas Porteous might be warranted.

Thomas Porteous denied a motion to recuse based on his relationship with lawyers in the case.

Jonathan Turley, acting in Judge Thomas Porteous's defense, announced that Judge Thomas Porteous had decided to leave the federal bench in 2011 were he not removed from office.

Thomas Porteous is one of only three former federal officers to be permanently banned from holding federal office after being impeached and removed, the others being West Hughes Humphreys and Robert W Archbald.

On January 15,2011, Thomas Porteous gave up his law license in lieu of facing discipline, and agreed to never practice law in Louisiana again.