Kansas judge’s resignation stopped deliberations over his possible impeachment
A committee that reviews complaints against federal judges said on Tuesday that allegations concerning U.S. District Court of Kansas Judge Carlos Murguia were serious enough to warrant its deliberation over whether to refer the matter to Congress to consider impeachment.
But Murguia’s decision last month to resign, effective on April 1, put a stop to the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability’s evaluation before it could make a recommendation on impeachment, according to an 11-page memorandum by the committee.
An investigation last year found Murguia sexually harassed court employees, engaged in an extramarital affair that made him susceptible to extortion and was habitually late to court proceedings. Murguia was publicly reprimanded by the Tenth Circuit Judicial Council on Sept. 30, after which the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability started its own evaluation of Murguia.
The committee’s memorandum on Tuesday said it was preparing its recommendation on impeachment when Murguia submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump. Murguia, a judge in the Kansas district’s Kansas City, Kansas, courthouse, has had all his cases reassigned while his resignation next month is pending.
“We note that the underlying misconduct, as found by the Tenth Circuit Judicial Council, is serious enough to have warranted our deliberations over a referral to Congress for its consideration of impeachment,” said the committee’s memo.
The U.S. House of Representatives has the power to impeach federal judges, and has done so 15 times. The last judge that the House impeached was G. Thomas Porteous Jr. of Louisiana in 2010 for accepting bribes. The Senate removed him from the bench.
Murguia, who has previously apologized for his actions, could not immediately be reached for comment about the committee’s memo.
The committee’s memo reveals that an investigation into Murguia’s conduct started in May 2016, when the chief federal judge in Kansas learned from two other Kansas judges of allegations of sexual harassment against one of Murguia’s former employees.
The allegations were sent to the chief judge for the Tenth Circuit, who looked into the matter and confronted Murguia about the claims. Murguia, according to the memo, was remorseful about how he behaved toward the employee and agreed to treatment from a medical professional.
Murguia successfully completed treatment later in 2016 and the chief judge for the Tenth Circuit told him that there would not be a formal misconduct complaint because Murguia admitted to his behavior and was willing to correct it.
But then in November 2017, according to the memo, the Tenth Circuit learned that Murguia was involved in an extramarital affair with a woman who had been convicted of two state felonies and was on probation at the time of their relationship.
The Tenth Circuit hired a retired FBI agent to look further into Murguia’s conduct, an inquiry that involved several interviews as well as reviews of telephone records, text messages and emails. That investigation revealed Murguia sexually harassed two other employees and had not been truthful during the earlier inquiry into his behavior.
After the Tenth Circuit publicly admonished Murguia on Sept. 30, Murguia had agreed to write apologies to the three employees he harassed and meet with the chief federal judge in Kansas twice a year to review his work habits and performance. He also was banned from hiring interns, according to the memo.
But on Feb. 18, Murguia submitted his resignation.
The resignation came before he had served long enough to receive a pension or any retirement benefits.
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
