A Michigan federal judge is awaiting trial on drunken-driving charges following his October arrest, during which officials said his blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit.
Judge Thomas L. Ludington of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan faces misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of 0.17 or more and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, according to the complaint filed by a local prosecutor.
His jury trial is set for Feb. 27 in the 90th District Court in Emmet County.
Ludington, 72, was freed after posting a $500 bond. He pleaded not guilty on Oct. 6. A status conference in his case is set for Feb. 9.
The judge was considered legally “super drunk” when he crashed his wife’s 2019 black Cadillac near his northern Michigan vacation home and struck two traffic signs on a curved rural road, according to the Detroit News, which cited state police and court records in first reporting on the incident Monday.
He was appointed by President George W. Bush and took the bench in 2006. His courtroom is in Bay City, more than 100 miles northwest of Detroit.
Cases are still being assigned to his docket as of last week.
In an email, Ludington’s attorney, Jonathan B. Steffy of Harris Law, said Tuesday that he’s “conferring with my client and team today” and would “reach out after that.”
Ludington’s chambers referred an inquiry to an Eastern District of Michigan court spokesman; a spokesman for the court declined to comment.
The Michigan State Police didn’t immediately respond to requests for reports on Ludington’s arrest.
The case is Michigan v. Ludington, Mich. Dist. Ct., No. 2025-25-0564-SD, trial set 2/27/26.
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