Erratic Federal Judge In Treatment For Severe Alcoholism

A federal judge who displayed erratic behavior and had been taken off several cases in the last two years has been in treatment for severe alcoholism, according to recently unsealed documents. U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Minaldi was ordered to complete at least 90 days of substance abuse treatment by the chief judge of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Documents, unsealed at the request of the Associated Press, show that Minaldi’s alcoholism was so severe that she has been moved into an assisted living facility specializing in “memory care,” and that a colleague filed a lawsuit challenging Minaldi’s physical and mental capacity to manage her personal and financial affairs. In her suit, U.S. Magistrate Kathleen Kay said that Minaldi had been diagnosed with “alcohol use disorder” and “severe Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome,” a degenerative brain disorder linked to alcohol abuse. Minaldi was overseeing criminal cases as recently as December, when a trial was cut short without explanation before a jury could be picked to hear a child pornography case. The AP reports that the trail was adjourned without explanation less than an hour after it began.