Judge Sues Peers for Criticizing Rulings: Colleagues Split on His Conduct in Court, Constitutionality of Removing Him

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FORT WORTH - A Texas federal judge, harshly ridiculed and reprimanded, his career in virtual shambles, hopes he will be vindicated if his civil lawsuit against his tormentors comes to trial this fall in Washington.

The suit, filed in the court of U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly last year by Judge John Henry McBryde, 67, claims that he has been unjustly accused and unfairly maligned by his peers, and that the whole process detractors used to defame and shatter his legal career was unconstitutional.

Many legal scholars have written about the ticklish situation surrounding removal of a federal judge. Most agree that only Congress can remove by impeachment and that such a proceeding can be instigated only upon accusations of criminal behavior or gross misconduct.

Judge McBryde's lawyers claim he has not …