Panel Votes for Claiborne Impeachment

The House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Thursday to recommend the impeachment of Las Vegas federal Judge Harry Claiborne, who has refused to resign and continues to draw a $6,558 monthly paycheck from the government despite having been convicted and jailed for cheating on his income taxes.

The 35-0 vote moves four separate impeachment articles--akin to indictments--to the House floor and earned the Claiborne case a prime spot on the list of dubious legislative precedents:

- It was the first time that the committee had ever voted to recommend the forced ouster of a federal judge serving time on a felony count. Other jurists have been convicted of crimes but have voluntarily resigned.

- It was the first time since its dramatic 1974 action against President Richard M. Nixon that the panel had voted to oust any federal official from office. Nixon, tainted by the Watergate scandal, resigned before the full House could act.

Over the last two centuries, the House has voted to impeach only 13 federal officials. And only four of them, all judges, have been removed from office after a Senate trial on the charges against them. The last forced ouster took place in 1936.

No one on the committee voiced support for Claiborne as Republicans and Democrats alike attacked the judge for brazenly clinging to office. “His refusal to leave the bench though he’s in jail raises arrogance and contempt to an art form,” Rep. Romano L. Mazzoli (D-Ky.) snapped. Rep. James F. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) agreed: “The unanimous vote in this committee should give Claiborne the message he can’t jerk Congress around.”

Sensenbrenner said the full House would probably take up the impeachment question in mid-July. Approval of the resolution--now seen as a virtual certainty unless Claiborne resigns first--would send the matter to the Senate for a trial. A team of House Judiciary Committee members would function as prosecutors.