WASHINGTON – In 2005, U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny warned a defense lawyer of dire consequences if the lawyer did not do more to try to delay the execution of his client. “I’ll have your law license,” the judge warned at one point during a 55-minute conference call.

The incident sparked a judicial ethics investigation of Judge Chatigny, who sits in the District of Connecticut. Although the judge was cleared of misconduct and he apologized to the defense lawyer, Republicans are reviewing the case as they weigh whether to support Judge Chatigny’s nomination for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.