Montana's chief federal judge admitted on Wednesday that he forwarded an email comparing African-Americans to dogs and implying that President Barack Obama's mother had sex with animals.
Richard Cebull's email, obtained by the Great Falls Tribune, reads: "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."
A joke then follows: "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!'"
Cebull forwarded the offensive email from his official court account to six "old buddies," who then forwarded to others.
In an interview with the Tribune, Cebull maintained he did not send the email because it was racist, but because it was 'anti-Obama.'
"The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan," Cebull said. He agreed the email was racist, but said he personally was not.
"This is a private thing that was, to say the least, very poor judgment on my part," he said.
Cebull was nominated to his current position by George W. Bush. He has served since 2008.
This is not the first instance of an official coming under fire for sending a racist Obama email.
In April 2011, an Orange County GOP official sent out an email with a photo of Obama's face superimposed on the body of a baby chimpanzee. She made a public apology, saying she was an "an imperfect Christian" and she hadn't thought about the cultural implications of the email before sending.