Jailed Federal Judge Bribed by Drug Dealer Faces Impeachment

LAW ENFORCEMENT June 1993

Imprisoned U.S. District Judge Robert F. Collins will likely be impeached following the May 13 recommendation of a 19-member panel of federal judges from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas (AP, "Jailed Judge May Be Impeached," Washington Post, 5/13/93, A7).

The 19-member panel sent word to the full 26-member Judicial Conference of the United States recommending Collins be impeached. The full conference may now urge the House of Representatives to impeach Collins. Federal judges are appointed for life and can be removed only through Congressional impeachment.

Collins was convicted in June 1991 of bribery, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice after a convicted drug smuggler acting as a Federal Bureau of Investigation informant paid Collins $100,000 in return for a lenient sentence. [Update -- Judge Collins has resigned.]