Harold Louderback

Harold Louderback (30 January, 1881 - 11 December, 1941) was a United States District Court judge from California. He was the eleventh federal official to be served with Articles of Impeachment and was ultimately acquitted of these charges.

Louderback was born in San Francisco, California and studied law at Nevada University, graduating in 1905 and then attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1908. Louderback then went into private practice from 1908 until 1917; In 1917, Louderback joined the United States Army and held the rank of Captain. In 1919, he left military service and returned to private practice until 1921 when he was appointed as a Superior Court Judge for the City and County of San Francisco.

Louderback held this post until 1928 when he was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge as a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

On 24 February, 1933 Louderback was served with five Articles of Impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives, including 4 articles alleging corruption in bankruptcy cases (appointing incompetent receivers and allowing them excessive fees) and a general charge of bringing his Court into disrepute. The U.S. Senate tried the Impeachment and on 24 May acquitted him of all the charges by the following margins:

Even though the fifth article gained a majority in the Senate, it was not sufficient to meet the Constitutionally required majority of two-thirds. Louderback remained on the bench until his death in 1941.