A U.S. district judge is scheduled to appear before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee today as it considers whether to impeach him over allegations of misconduct.
U.S. Judge Manuel Real’s testimony comes the same week that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer turned over a 188-page report that reveals judges have failed to investigate complaints of their colleagues. Breyer’s commission noted that an appeals court bungled the investigation into Real’s intervention in a bankruptcy case.
Breyer’s report was released on the same day that the federal judiciary approved a policy preventing judges from accepting trips from private organizations unless they publicly disclose who’s paying for the seminars.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., has said he was considering impeachment proceedings against Real because of “a breakdown in the judicial branch’s enforcement of the judicial discipline statute Congress enacted in 1980.” Sensenbrenner and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, have introduced legislation to create an inspector general’s office to investigate complaints against federal judges.
Real, 82, seized control of a bankruptcy from another judge. The case involved a woman whose probation Real was overseeing.
Real’s action allowed the woman to live rent-free for three years in a Los Angeles house, costing her creditors $35,000 in rent and thousands more in legal costs, according to court documents.
Breyer’s commission found that in high-visibility cases the federal judiciary was more likely to fail to properly investigate the complaints. The commission found problems in 30 percent of the investigations of the high-profile cases.
If impeached and convicted, Real would be the first federal judge to be removed from office through the impeachment process since 1989.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
