Judicial conduct committee orders deeper investigation of Waco federal judge

A federal judicial conduct committee ruled Friday that a reprimand and sanctions imposed last year against U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. may not have gone far enough and that additional investigation into whether the judge engaged in a “pattern and practice” of making unwanted sexual advances toward women is needed.

In a four-page decision, the Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States said the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Council failed to adequately address certain allegations made by New York attorney Ty Clevenger in Clevenger’s complaint against the 75-year-old Smith.

Smith, who has been a federal judge since 1984, declined comment Friday through a court employee on the committee’s decision.

The 5th Circuit judicial council found there was evidence to support claims that Smith made “inappropriate, unwanted physical and nonphysical sexual advances” toward a court employee in 1998 and reprimanded the judge. It also suspended the assignment of any new cases to the judge for one year and required him to undergo sensitivity training.

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