In the latest of several unusual events involving Judge Samuel B. Kent, Chief Judge Hayden Head of the Southern District of Texas ordered that Judge Kent would take an “intended absence” from his bench until December.
This leave of absence comes after a May order by Chief Head that split thirty percent of Kent’s civil cases among fellow U.S. District Court Judges John Rainey of Victoria, Sim Lake of Houston, and Gray H. Miller, of Houston. In 2001 the then-chief judge of the the Southern District removed eighty-five cases from Judge Kent’s court, which involved a law firm headed by one of his best friends, Richard Melancon.
Dean James Alfini of South Texas College of Law said that the leave of absence could be due to discipline by a judge’s peers, an illness, or a need to take time off for some other reason.
We here at SMSB have been huge fans of Judge Kent for his ascerbic wit and biting judicial opinions, but the chain of events in his chambers seems to point to something more related to disciplinary sanction than to personal time constraints.
In honor of Judge Kent’s time on the bench, below is a page from one of our favorite Kent opinions–the so-called “Live Bolivian” decision.
Whatever the case, we wish Judge Kent well during his leave, and look forward both to his return to the bench and the return of his legendary benchslappery.
Thx to the Houston Chronicle and Greedy-Texas
September 1, 2007 at 11:51 am
[...] Lat again graciously linked to and quoted from one of our posts regarding the curious departure of Federal District Judge Samuel Kent. The comments over at AbovetheLaw suggest some reasons for the departure, but without [...]
October 1, 2007 at 8:31 am
[...] by 020033 under Clearly erroneous , I wish I hadn’t read that Back at the end of August, we wrote about Judge Kent’s mysterious “intended absence” from the Galveston bench. It appears the mystery has now been [...]
April 14, 2008 at 11:39 am
[...] Bless Texas, Legally sufficient While few opinions may ever rival Judge Kent’s “live Bolivian” exposition or his “Big Chief tablet” benchslapping of two unfortunate counsel, [...]
May 29, 2009 at 12:26 pm
In light of his criminal conviction, don’t you now wish that you had not included your last sentence? “Whatever the case, we wish Judge Kent well during his leave, and look forward both to his return to the bench and the return of his legendary benchslappery.” This is not about hindsight, this is about court employees, judges, and lawyers being aware of Judge Kent’s inappropriate conduct and laughing it off.