{"id":148362,"date":"2026-04-09T15:20:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/09\/judge-accused-of-driving-super-drunk-takes-no-contest-plea\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T15:20:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T23:20:59","slug":"judge-accused-of-driving-super-drunk-takes-no-contest-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/09\/judge-accused-of-driving-super-drunk-takes-no-contest-plea\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Accused Of Driving \u2018Super Drunk\u2019 Takes No Contest Plea"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we last checked in with Judge Thomas L. Ludington\u00a0(E.D. Michigan), the federal jurist had been\u00a0accused of driving \u201csuper drunk\u201d<\/a> and was also staring down a judicial misconduct complaint<\/a>. Back in February, he opted to take a voluntary leave of absence<\/a> from the bench while his case moved forward. Now, there\u2019s an update: Ludington has entered a no contest plea to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge stemming from the October incident.<\/p>\n

The plea resolves the criminal case on more limited terms, with prosecutors dropping a higher-level charge tied to an elevated blood alcohol content. Bloomberg Law<\/a> has additional details:<\/p>\n

\n

Ludington, 72, is set to be sentenced on May 13. He was ordered to undergo a substance abuse assessment and will be the subject of a pre-sentence investigation by the court\u2019s probation department, Emmet County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Schuitema said. \u2026<\/p>\n

In cases such as Ludington\u2019s, the court usually puts a defendant on probation with rehabilitation-focused conditions, said Schuitema, who added that he expected that for the judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased with the plea,\u201d Schuitema said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to hold Judge Ludington accountable for what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ludington has signaled that he intends to remain on the bench. His attorney, Jonathan B. Steffy of Harris Law, noted in a statement that \u201c[t]his case was not as simple as it appeared to many, but the most important thing now, for all involved, is to move forward.\u201d He went on, saying, that the judge \u201clooks forward to continuing to serve the Federal Court at the highest level and focus on his work, along with his wife and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a judicial misconduct complaint still in play, the focus now shifts to how the judiciary polices its own, and whether the consequences here will extend beyond the criminal docket.<\/p>\n

US Judge Stays on Bench After No Contest Drunk Driving Plea (2)<\/a> [Bloomberg Law]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>:\u00a0Federal Judge Accused Of Driving \u2018Super Drunk\u2019 Crashes Into Judicial Misconduct Complaint<\/a>Federal Judge Accused Of Driving \u2018Super Drunk\u2019 Takes \u2018Voluntary\u2019 Leave From The Bench<\/a>
\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
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<\/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 Judge Accused Of Driving \u2018Super Drunk\u2019 Takes No Contest Plea<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When we last checked in with Judge Thomas L. Ludington\u00a0(E.D. Michigan), the federal jurist had been\u00a0accused of driving \u201csuper drunk\u201d<\/a> and was also staring down a judicial misconduct complaint<\/a>. Back in February, he opted to take a voluntary leave of absence<\/a> from the bench while his case moved forward. Now, there\u2019s an update: Ludington has entered a no contest plea to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge stemming from the October incident.<\/p>\n

The plea resolves the criminal case on more limited terms, with prosecutors dropping a higher-level charge tied to an elevated blood alcohol content. Bloomberg Law<\/a> has additional details:<\/p>\n

\n

Ludington, 72, is set to be sentenced on May 13. He was ordered to undergo a substance abuse assessment and will be the subject of a pre-sentence investigation by the court\u2019s probation department, Emmet County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Schuitema said. \u2026<\/p>\n

In cases such as Ludington\u2019s, the court usually puts a defendant on probation with rehabilitation-focused conditions, said Schuitema, who added that he expected that for the judge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased with the plea,\u201d Schuitema said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to hold Judge Ludington accountable for what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ludington has signaled that he intends to remain on the bench. His attorney, Jonathan B. Steffy of Harris Law, noted in a statement that \u201c[t]his case was not as simple as it appeared to many, but the most important thing now, for all involved, is to move forward.\u201d He went on, saying, that the judge \u201clooks forward to continuing to serve the Federal Court at the highest level and focus on his work, along with his wife and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a judicial misconduct complaint still in play, the focus now shifts to how the judiciary polices its own, and whether the consequences here will extend beyond the criminal docket.<\/p>\n

US Judge Stays on Bench After No Contest Drunk Driving Plea (2)<\/a> [Bloomberg Law]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>:\u00a0Federal Judge Accused Of Driving \u2018Super Drunk\u2019 Crashes Into Judicial Misconduct Complaint<\/a>Federal Judge Accused Of Driving \u2018Super Drunk\u2019 Takes \u2018Voluntary\u2019 Leave From The Bench<\/a>
\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 Judge Accused Of Driving \u2018Super Drunk\u2019 Takes No Contest Plea<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we last checked in with Judge Thomas L. Ludington\u00a0(E.D. Michigan), the federal jurist had been\u00a0accused of driving \u201csuper drunk\u201d and was also staring down a judicial misconduct complaint. Back in February, he opted to take a voluntary leave of absence from the bench while his case moved forward. Now, there\u2019s an update: Ludington has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":148363,"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-148362","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\/04\/Staci-Zaretsky-WMquX6.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148362","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=148362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}