Thomas Porteous

Thomas Porteous
Porteous at his impeachment trial, September 2010
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
In office October 11, 1994 – December 8, 2010
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Robert Frederick Collins
Succeeded by	Susie Morgan
Personal details
Born	1946 (age 70–71) New Orleans, Louisiana
Alma mater	Louisiana State University Louisiana State University Law School

Gabriel Thomas Porteous, Jr. (born 1946) is a former United States federal judge who served for sixteen years before being impeached and removed from office in December 2010.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Porteous received a B.A. from Louisiana State University in 1968 and a J.D. from Louisiana State University Law School in 1971. He was a special counsel to the Office of the State Attorney General, Louisiana from 1971 to 1973. He was in private practice in Gretna, Louisiana from 1973 to 1980, and in Metairie, Louisiana from 1980 to 1984. He was Chief of the Felony Complaint Division in the District Attorney's Office, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana from 1973 to 1975. He was a city attorney of Harahan, Louisiana from 1982 to 1984. He was a judge on the 24th Judicial District Court of Louisiana from 1984 to 1994.

On August 25, 1994, Porteous was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana vacated by Robert F. Collins. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 7, 1994, and received his commission on October 11, 1994.

Porteous controversially ruled in several landmark cases against the state, including one 2002 case in which he ruled that the state of Louisiana was illegally using federal money to promote religion in its abstinence-only sex education programs. He ordered the state to stop giving money to individuals or organizations that "convey religious messages or otherwise advance religion" with tax dollars. Judge Porteous also said there was ample evidence that many of the groups participating in the Governor's Program on Abstinence were "furthering religious objectives."