The Difference Between a Criminal Procedure and a Civil Political Impeachment Proceeding

A Texas congressman was asked to pay $3.3 million in a civil lawsuit that had already run out of time, but his lawyers submitted a 10 page brief citing more than half a dozen cases they'd found on legal research databases such as Westlaw and Lexus Nexus. There was a problem, however, which is that none of the cases were real. A judge has now issued a show cause order to both the lawyer who did the research and his fellow attorney who signed it because he was not licensed to practice in federal court.