When
we
last
checked
in
on
Judge
Thomas
L.
Ludington
of
the
Eastern
District
of
Michigan,
the
72-year-old
jurist
was
accused
of
driving
“super
drunk,”
with
a
blood-alcohol
content
more
than
three
times
the
legal
limit.
Now,
thanks
to
a
newly
released
police
report,
we
have
more
detail
about
just
how
impaired
the
judge
allegedly
was
—
and
it’s
not
pretty.
According
to
the
report
cited
by
Bloomberg
Law,
after
crashing
his
vehicle
back
in
October,
Ludington
struggled
through
field
sobriety
tests
in
ways
that
would
be
concerning
in
a
22-year-old
spring
breaker,
let
alone
a
life-tenured
federal
judge.
Asked
to
recite
the
alphabet
from
C
to
Q,
Ludington
reportedly
offered:
“A,
B,
C,
D,
F,
U.”
He
also
allegedly
told
the
responding
trooper
—
twice
—
that
he
was
a
federal
judge,
which
is
certainly
one
way
to
try
to
establish
credibility
while
“he
appeared
to
have
urinated
himself.”
Ludington
said
he
hadn’t
been
drinking,
and
claimed
he
didn’t
remember
crashing.
Police
said
they
smelled
alcohol.
A
post-crash
blood
draw
later
clocked
him
at
0.27.
Bloomberg
has
additional
details:
The
trooper
tried
to
give
Ludington
a
breath
test,
but
the
judge
either
couldn’t
properly
blow
or
understand
the
instructions.
On
a
fifth
attempt
the
trooper
told
the
judge
he’d
consider
his
actions
a
refusal
if
he
didn’t
perform
the
test
the
right
way,
after
which
the
judge
became
“argumentative”
and
the
test
ended.Ludington
was
handcuffed,
put
in
the
front
seat
of
the
patrol
vehicle,
and
taken
to
a
hospital,
where
his
blood
was
drawn.
Emergency
department
staff
medically
cleared
him,
after
which
he
was
taken
to
jail
and
released
upon
posting
a
$500
bond.
It’s
one
thing
for
a
federal
judge
to
find
himself
facing
a
DUI
charge.
It’s
another
for
the
public
record
to
include
allegations
that
he
couldn’t
complete
the
alphabet
and
responded
to
instructions
with
what
reads
like
a
middle-schooler’s
idea
of
edgy
humor.
Ludington
—
a George
W.
Bush
appointee
who
remains
on
the
bench
—
has
pleaded
not
guilty
to
misdemeanor
charges
of
operating
a
vehicle
with
a
blood-alcohol
content
of
0.17
or
more
and
operating
while
intoxicated.
His
jury
trial
is
scheduled
for
May
8.
Federal
Judge
Couldn’t
Recite
Alphabet
in
Field
Sobriety
Test
[Bloomberg
Law]
Earlier:
Federal
Judge
Arrested,
Accused
Of
Driving
While
‘Super
Drunk’
Staci
Zaretsky is
the
managing
editor
of
Above
the
Law,
where
she’s
worked
since
2011.
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