Bob Perkins is an American judge who sits on Travis County District Court in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. In November 2005, he was assigned to preside over the Tom DeLay money-laundering case. DeLay's attorneys objected, arguing that Perkins was a member of the Democratic Party, and had contributed to the liberal group MoveOn.org which DeLay's lawyers alleged sold anti-DeLay T-shirts, which MoveOn.org denied. Perkins denied ever seeing the alleged T-shirts but confirmed he had contributed to the failed campaign of Democratic presidential nominee

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

. Travis County District Attorney

Ronnie Earle Ronald Dale Earle (February 23, 1942 – April 5, 2020) was an American politician and judge who was, from January 1977 to January 2009, the District Attorney for Travis County, Texas. He became nationally known for filing charges against Major ...

attempted to keep Perkins as the presiding judge over the prosecution of DeLay, whose lawyers were successful in arguing the judge could not be perceived in public as impartial under the circumstances of Perkins' donations. Earle's office argued there was no reason to replace Perkins as judges should automatically be viewed as impartial. Perkins had once voluntarily recused himself in Earle's earlier failed prosecution of Republican U.S. Senator

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. The motion was heard by retired judge C.W. Duncan.DeLay seeks new judge in money-laundering case
, cnn.com; accessed July 27, 2016.DeLay indictment details
, ap.org; accessed January 26, 2016. Duncan ordered Perkins' removal from the case, and judge Pat Priest (also a Democrat) was selected by

Texas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court o ...

Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson (a Republican) to preside over the case. DeLay was later exonerated by an appeals court of all charges.

References

Living people People from Travis County, Texas Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Texas Democrats Texas state court judges Year of birth missing (living people) {{Texas-bio-stub