U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington will remain on paid leave for an additional year and undergo treatment for alcohol use disorder to resolve judicial misconduct complaints, according to a court announcement on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. Ludington, who serves the Eastern District of Michigan in Bay City, agreed to regular and random alcohol testing upon his return to the bench and will transition to senior status, a semi-retirement role, in September 2027.
The 72-year-old judge has been on leave since February 2026, following an arrest on October 3, 2025, in Emmet County, Michigan. A Michigan State Police report stated that Ludington's vehicle struck two road signs before crashing. At the scene, Ludington registered a 0.27 blood-alcohol level, which is more than three times the legal limit of 0.08 and exceeds the state's 0.17 "super drunk" threshold. In April 2026, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of operating while intoxicated, and a state court judge sentenced him to six months of probation in May.
Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order on Monday, September 21, 2026, resolving misconduct complaints initiated by the court and Gabe Roth of the reform group Fix the Court. Sutton noted that body-camera footage of the arrest had been viewed over 1 million times on YouTube, stating that the "flagrant misbehavior" affected public confidence in the judiciary. Ludington, through his lawyer, stated he was "ashamed" and accepted full responsibility for the embarrassment caused to the court.
For federal court participants, the impact is a continued shift in judicial resources. The judge's agreement to take senior status in September 2027 will create a vacancy for a full-time lifetime appointment, which must be filled by presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. In the interim, litigants in Bay City may continue to see their cases reassigned to other judges or experience delays associated with the judge's absence. This case also sets a procedural precedent for how the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handles judicial misconduct involving substance use and criminal convictions, opting for a rehabilitative and monitored return to duty rather than immediate removal.
The next steps for Judge Ludington involve completing his alcohol use disorder treatment and a one-year leave of absence. According to the order, he is expected to return to hearing cases under the condition of random alcohol testing once his leave concludes. His mandatory transition to senior status is set for September 2027. While federal judges are lifetime appointees, they can be removed through impeachment by a simple majority in the House of Representatives and a two-thirds majority in the Senate; however, no such proceedings were reported in this resolution.