To hold the office of federal judge is both an honor and a privilege bestowed only upon the best, brightest, and most promising legal minds. U.S District Judge Richard Cebull recently demonstrated, through his lack of better judgement, that he no longer possesses the necessary qualities to be considered a respected jurist by his peers and/or the general public at large.

On February 20,2012 Judge Cebull used his official courthouse email address to  disseminate a racist joke aimed directly at President Barack Obama. The message reads as follows:

1. "Normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine."

2. "A little boy said to his mother, 'Mommy, how come I'm black and you're white?' His mother replied, 'Don't even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you're lucky you don't bark!"

The judge subsequently apologized to the President and his family but the damage had already been done. This is a clear case of judicial misconduct and numerous chairs of Congress such as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus have issued statements repudiating the judge's actions. Common Cause has also filed a formal complaint with the 9th Circuit and the Montana Human Rights Network has begun collecting signatures urging the judge to resign.

This petition aims to go forward in its condemnation of such behavior by calling on Congress to initiate the necessary impeachment procedures to relieve Judge Cebull of his current duties as Montana's U.S. Chief District Judge due to his violation of the Federal Code of Conduct for United States Judges which states that judges shall "act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary."