Walter S. Smith was a federal judge in Waco, Texas. He was appointed by Ronald Reagan and served 32 years before resigning to evade accountability. While he didn’t run into trouble until 2015, he sexually harassed and groped a woman in 1998 and it was her complaint that was featured, though there were several complaints. This is not unusual, in a study by CNN found less than 1% of complaints were referred to a special committee for investigation. In her case, a lawyer filed a complaint and raised a stink.
In 2017, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts created a committee to investigate sexual harassment in the federal judiciary. In 2015, Smith had been reprimanded for sexual harassment, ordered him to attended sexual harassment training, and told him he could not hear any new cases for a year. However, a federal judicial conduct committee told the 5th Circuit they need to investigate again because it was alleged this was a pattern of behavior. As soon as that happened, he resigned, which saved his pension and ended the investigation.
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- Law 360: Texas Judge’s Retirement cancels sexual harassment discipline
05 Mar 2015