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The Nation - News from Sept. 19, 1986

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An income tax return filed by U.S. District Judge Harry Claiborne was “so completely off the wall” it’s difficult to believe he could have signed it, Sen. Orrin Hatch, (R-Utah), said at the judge’s impeachment trial in Washington. Hatch, one of 12 senators hearing testimony in the trial, wondered how Claiborne could have expected the sale of his Las Vegas home for $750,000 to be tax-free when he made a $314,000 profit. Claiborne, 69, chief federal judge for Nevada and the first jurist to face a Senate impeachment trial in 50 years, was convicted of underreporting his income by nearly $107,000 for 1979 and 1980. The House impeached him for deliberately filing false tax returns, misbehavior and high crimes in office. The full Senate will vote whether to oust Claiborne.

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