Skip to content

Judicial Watch, Inc. is a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.

Judicial Watch, Inc. is a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.

Because no one
is above the law!

Donate

Judicial Watch

Corruption Chronicles

Judge Says Bribe Was Meaningless

A Mississippi judge federally indicted for bribery insists the charges should be dropped because he didn’t receive anything of value but rather a “meaningless courtesy call” from the lawmaker who tried to influence him.

The suspended Hinds County Circuit judge (Robert DeLaughter) has been charged with five felonies for exchanging favorable rulings for consideration to the federal bench. Prosecutors say that a millionaire attorney (Richard Scruggs), serving a seven-year prison sentence for bribing two judges, influenced DeLaughter by promising to help him get the federal appointment through his brother-in-law who at the time was U.S. Senator (Trent Lott).

Scruggs, a major political donor, made a fortune from asbestos litigation and brokering multibillion-dollar settlements with tobacco companies in the 1990s. DeLaughter presided over a multi million-dollar asbestos fee dispute between Scruggs and his former business partner when he was bribed. His ruling saved Scruggs $15 million. 

Lott, the Republican senator who abruptly resigned in 2007, has acknowledged calling DeLaughter and telling him that his attorney brother-in-law (Scruggs) had told him what a “fine judge” DeLaughter was. As a U.S. senator one of Lott’s duties was to recommend nominees for federal judgeships and DeLaughter had already thrown his name into the pool. 

In a motion to dismiss the charges this week, DeLaughter claimed the senator’s phone call did not meet the criteria of a bribe because it was nothing of value. Therefore, according to his legal team, no crime was committed. The case boils down to a judge who received ex parte contacts on one hand and a litigant who arranged a meaningless courtesy call on the other, according to the judge’s attorneys. The trial is scheduled for later this year. 

Related

L.A. Rioters Fight to Keep Rapists, Murderers, Gangbangers on City Streets, DHS Confirms

Corruption Chronicles | June 12, 2025
Rioters in Los Angeles are fighting to keep rapists, murderers, gangbangers and other violent criminals loose on city streets, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirms th...

Rep. Issa asks federal judge to freeze his mail-ballot case, pending SCOTUS verdict

In The News | June 11, 2025
From the Times of San Diego: Issa’s lawyers with conservative group Judicial Watch — as well as state attorneys — want to see how the Bost case plays out. “Given the similarity of ...

FBI’s Patel and Bongino: Hostages of the Deep State?

Investigative Bulletin | June 11, 2025
Kash Patel and Dan Bongino have been stalwart allies of the conservative movement—and good friends of Judicial Watch—for many years. Judicial Watch applauded their appointments as ...