{"id":144739,"date":"2026-02-24T16:50:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/24\/federal-judge-accused-of-driving-super-drunk-takes-voluntary-leave-from-the-bench\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T16:50:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:50:02","slug":"federal-judge-accused-of-driving-super-drunk-takes-voluntary-leave-from-the-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/24\/federal-judge-accused-of-driving-super-drunk-takes-voluntary-leave-from-the-bench\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge Accused Of Driving \u2018Super Drunk\u2019 Takes \u2018Voluntary\u2019 Leave From The Bench"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there was ever a cautionary tale about how not<\/em> to handle the optics when a judge becomes a defendant in the very system they oversee, the latest episode involving Thomas Ludington, the federal judge accused of driving \u201csuper drunk,\u201d<\/a> checks all the boxes.<\/p>\n

The Eastern District of Michigan announced that Ludington, 72, has decided to voluntarily<\/em> go on leave pending the resolution of his drunken-driving charges stemming from an October arrest that only recently came to public light. As noted in our prior coverage, the judge allegedly blew a 0.27 blood-alcohol level \u2014 more than three times<\/em> the legal limit \u2014 after crashing his vehicle and reportedly offered \u201cA, B, C, D, F, U\u201d<\/a> after he was asked to recite the alphabet from C to Q.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/a> received the following comments from the Eastern District of Michigan concerning Ludington\u2019s leave:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSince the Court became aware of the charges, it has taken all appropriate steps to address the matter consistent with its obligations to the public, the federal judiciary, and of course, to Judge Ludington,\u201d the district court said on Monday.<\/p>\n

It said it \u201crecognizes the seriousness of this matter\u201d and that Ludington had volunteered to take a leave of absence. It added that the law \u201caccords to every citizen the presumption of innocence, due process, and many other rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The official court statement leans heavily into boilerplate about due process and presumption of innocence, but judges are not immune from scrutiny. When officers of the court end up on the other<\/em> side of a criminal filing, it\u2019s a moment for the judiciary not just to nod to due process but to demonstrate it in practice. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been here before with judicial misconduct stories that test public faith in the system. When a judge\u2019s behavior becomes the news \u2014 especially for something like a DUI \u2014 transparency and swift accountability are expected (and often demanded). But in this case, there was a delay of months between the incident and widespread reporting, and in the interim, the judge continued hearing cases. That kind of lag isn\u2019t great for public confidence.<\/p>\n

Ludington \u2014 a\u00a0George W. Bush appointee \u2014 has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of 0.17 or more and operating while intoxicated. His jury trial is scheduled for May 8.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Michigan federal judge charged with drunken-driving goes on leave<\/a> [Reuters]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: \u2018A, B, C, D, F, U\u2019: Field Sobriety Test For Federal Judge Who Allegedly \u2018Urinated Himself\u2019 Goes Remarkably Off Script
<\/a>Federal Judge Arrested, Accused Of Driving While \u2018Super Drunk\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Federal Judge Accused Of Driving \u2018Super Drunk\u2019 Takes \u2018Voluntary\u2019 Leave From The Bench<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

If there was ever a cautionary tale about how not<\/em> to handle the optics when a judge becomes a defendant in the very system they oversee, the latest episode involving Thomas Ludington, the federal judge accused of driving \u201csuper drunk,\u201d<\/a> checks all the boxes.<\/p>\n

The Eastern District of Michigan announced that Ludington, 72, has decided to voluntarily<\/em> go on leave pending the resolution of his drunken-driving charges stemming from an October arrest that only recently came to public light. As noted in our prior coverage, the judge allegedly blew a 0.27 blood-alcohol level \u2014 more than three times<\/em> the legal limit \u2014 after crashing his vehicle and after he was asked to recite the alphabet from C to Q.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/a> received the following comments from the Eastern District of Michigan concerning Ludington\u2019s leave:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSince the Court became aware of the charges, it has taken all appropriate steps to address the matter consistent with its obligations to the public, the federal judiciary, and of course, to Judge Ludington,\u201d the district court said on Monday.<\/p>\n

It said it \u201crecognizes the seriousness of this matter\u201d and that Ludington had volunteered to take a leave of absence. It added that the law \u201caccords to every citizen the presumption of innocence, due process, and many other rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The official court statement leans heavily into boilerplate about due process and presumption of innocence, but judges are not immune from scrutiny. When officers of the court end up on the other<\/em> side of a criminal filing, it\u2019s a moment for the judiciary not just to nod to due process but to demonstrate it in practice. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been here before with judicial misconduct stories that test public faith in the system. When a judge\u2019s behavior becomes the news \u2014 especially for something like a DUI \u2014 transparency and swift accountability are expected (and often demanded). But in this case, there was a delay of months between the incident and widespread reporting, and in the interim, the judge continued hearing cases. That kind of lag isn\u2019t great for public confidence.<\/p>\n

Ludington \u2014 a\u00a0George W. Bush appointee \u2014 has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of 0.17 or more and operating while intoxicated. His jury trial is scheduled for May 8.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Michigan federal judge charged with drunken-driving goes on leave<\/a> [Reuters]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: \u2018A, B, C, D, F, U\u2019: Field Sobriety Test For Federal Judge Who Allegedly \u2018Urinated Himself\u2019 Goes Remarkably Off Script
<\/a>Federal Judge Arrested, Accused Of Driving While \u2018Super Drunk\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there was ever a cautionary tale about how not to handle the optics when a judge becomes a defendant in the very system they oversee, the latest episode involving Thomas Ludington, the federal judge accused of driving \u201csuper drunk,\u201d checks all the boxes. The Eastern District of Michigan announced that Ludington, 72, has decided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":144740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Staci-Zaretsky-OfKr5i.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}