Earlier today, the lame duck Senate actually accomplished something worthwhile. It impeached a bad judge:
The Senate has voted unanimously to convict U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous of Louisiana on the first of four impeachment charges, removing him from the federal bench.
The decision makes Porteous just the eighth federal judge in U.S. history to be impeached and convicted by Congress.
The Senate is still voting on three additional articles of impeachment approved by the House earlier this year.
House prosecutors say the 63-year-old judge had a gambling problem and began accepting cash and other favors from people with business before his court. He also was accused of lying to Congress and filing for bankruptcy under a false name.
Porteous was a Clinton appointee, which tells us what his next career move is likely to be. If he follows the path of another impeached Democrat judge, he’ll end up getting elected to Congress, where the next Democrat speaker will try to install him atop the House Intelligence Committee.
That’s exactly what Pelosi attempted with Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida, who had also been impeached on bribery charges a few years prior.
That’s just one of the many reasons that Pelosi won’t be missed, and why history won’t be kind to her tenure as Speaker of the House.
