Senate Won’t Hear Claiborne Witnesses

The Senate debated the impeachment case against U.S. District Judge Harry E. Claiborne for two hours behind closed doors Wednesday, then voted to proceed with his trial without calling any witnesses.

Adoption of the time-saving step by a margin of 61 to 32 cleared the way for a vote today on whether to remove the Las Vegas judge from office.

Claiborne’s attorney, Oscar Goodman, hastily filed suit demanding a full hearing in the Senate, but U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene ruled that the court had no constitutional grounds to intervene in an impeachment proceeding.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) recommended at the opening of impeachment proceedings on Tuesday that no witnesses be heard, noting that a special committee of 12 senators had already taken testimony from 18 witnesses last month.

Refusal to Resign

In a motion filed last week, Claiborne had asked the Senate to conduct a “full and fair” trial that would allow him to call as many as 58 witnesses. The Las Vegas jurist, who was convicted of tax evasion in 1984 but has refused to resign his lifetime judgeship, said the witnesses could help exonerate him by showing that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies engaged in a vendetta against him.

Claiborne had asked the Senate to subpoena FBI Director William H. Webster as well as some lower-ranking officials of the Internal Revenue Service and Justice Department. However, the Senate, which is rushing to adjourn within the next few days, wants to conduct a fair but expeditious trial, according to several senators who refused to be named.

The Senate debated the evidence in secret because the Constitution equates that phase of an impeachment trial with the private jury deliberations in a court trial. The statements by the prosecution and defense in the case were presented in public.

Closed-Door Debate

Dole said the Senate would conduct more closed-door debate this morning before voting on the impeachment question.

A two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is required for conviction. If Claiborne loses, he would be the fifth federal official in history--all of them judges--to be removed from office by the Senate. Claiborne, 69, who was sentenced to two years for evading more than $96,000 in taxes, is the first sitting judge in history to be imprisoned for crimes committed while in office.