After drunken driving arrest, bankruptcy judge agrees to leave
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff
US Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Somma, who resigned after his arrest on a drunken driving charge in February and then tried to rescind his resignation, will not be coming back, federal court officials said this afternoon.
"The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and Judge Robert Somma have agreed that he will not resume service on the United States Bankruptcy Court for Massachusetts but is leaving to pursue other endeavors," the Office of the Circuit Executive said in a one-paragraph statement. "The court appreciates the service that Judge Somma has rendered."
Somma's case generated headlines because he was wearing a dress when he was arrested in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 6. He was supposed to resign as of May 15.
But Somma expressed second thoughts in a letter to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly posted online April 1, and more than 200 bankruptcy lawyers signed a letter urging the court to let him return.
Over the past two weeks, neither the circuit executive's office nor Somma's lawyer would discuss his status or even say whether he was still a judge.
Asked this afternoon about the terms of the agreement, Susan Goldberg, deputy circuit executive, said in an e-mail message that both sides had "come to an understanding that is agreeable to the court and to Judge Somma." She gave no further details.
Somma’s lawyer, Robert B. Carpenter, said he could not comment on the agreement and that "we may have our own statement to come out next week." He declined to elaborate.
