House Panel Urges Impeachment of Black Federal Judge in Florida

WASHINGTON —  The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday recommended 32 to 1 that U.S. District Judge Alcee L. Hastings of Miami be impeached on 17 counts of misconduct despite his previous acquittal at a bribery trial.

Hastings is the first federal judge to face impeachment after being cleared in a criminal court on the same charges. He is also the first black to be charged in impeachment proceedings, and several committee members wondered aloud whether he might be a victim of racism.

In Miami, Hastings said that those who voted against him “acted in blind ignorance.” He added: “I’m in a fighting mood. There’s no way to remove a real warrior.”

House approval of the impeachment articles--akin to an indictment--would send the case to the Senate for a trial on whether he should be removed from his lifetime judgeship. The House acts by a simple majority, but a conviction must be carried by a two-thirds majority of senators voting.

The House has set no timetable for a vote, but the committee is pushing for a vote next week.

The 51-year-old Hastings is accused by the committee of conspiring to solicit a bribe from two defendants who appeared before him--the charges of which he was acquitted in a 1983 trial--and of lying about the scheme to the jurors. The latter allegation was brought by judges from the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Florida, and supported by the Judicial Conference, the policy-making body of the federal judiciary.