House Votes to Impeach U.S. Judge

The House, by an almost unanimous vote, today impeached U.S. District Judge Alcee Hastings for felony crimes and misdemeanors, setting the stage for a Senate trial of Florida’s first black federal judge.

By a 413-3 vote, the House adopted 17 articles of impeachment against Hastings for misconduct on the bench, including a bribery charge that he was cleared of by a federal jury in 1983.

Following the vote, Hastings held a quick news conference on the steps of the federal courthouse in Miami and said he would not step down from the bench. He called the vote “a dark day for myself and the judicial process,” but added that he expects to prevail in the Senate.

Judge Calls Vote ‘Disgrace’

“The vote today, in my humble opinion, is a disgrace,” said Hastings. “Many congresspersons voted with no knowledge of the voluminous record that has taken seven years to compile.”

The only lawmakers to vote against Hastings impeachment were Reps. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles), Mervyn M. Dymally (D-Compton) and Gus Savage (D-Ill.), but four others voted present.

Hastings, 51, who refuses to resign and forfeit his $89,500 annual salary, can be removed from his lifetime post only by a vote to convict by two-thirds of the Senate.

The impeachment resolution charges that Hastings conspired with Washington attorney William Borders to receive a $150,000 bribe from two convicted racketeers in return for a lighter sentence, lied about the bribe during a criminal trial and compromised three FBI investigations by leaking wiretap information over which he had jurisdiction.

Acquitted of Charges

A federal jury in Miami acquitted Hastings in February, 1983, of bribery charges. Borders was convicted in a separate trial and drew a five-year prison sentence.

“Judge Hastings must go,” said Rep. George W. Gekas (R-Pa.). “The conduct of Alcee Hastings makes one sick in the stomach. To allow those kinds of things to happen at the hands of a man holding a federal judge position is intolerable.”

Rep. Joseph D. Early (D-Mass.) was the only lawmaker to strongly question the fairness of impeaching Hastings for charges he had, in part, been cleared of in the 1983 trial.