Samuel B. Kent

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First resignation and congressional hearings

On June 2, 2009, Judge Kent submitted his resignation to President Obama in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid hearings in Congress. [35] The resignation, had it not been precluded by removal from office, would have been effective as of June 1, 2010. [36]

Chaired by Representative Adam Schiff, the hearings featured testimony from his accusers, Cathy McBroom and Donna Wilkerson. [37]

Kent and his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, refused to attend, calling it a "circus". [37]

On June 9, the Task Force unanimously voted to report four articles to the full House Judiciary Committee. [38] The next day, the Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to send them to the full House. [7]

Impeachment, Senate trial, and second resignation

The House Managers wait to take the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate on June 24. First row: Bob Goodlatte and Adam Schiff, lead Managers. Second row: Jim Sensenbrenner and Zoe Lofgren. Housemanagers.jpg
The House Managers wait to take the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate on June 24. First row: Bob Goodlatte and Adam Schiff, lead Managers. Second row: Jim Sensenbrenner and Zoe Lofgren.

The vote for impeachment in the House was scheduled to take place on June 18, [39] but it was postponed until the next day due to prolonged debate over an appropriations bill. [40] All four articles of impeachment were passed by the House of Representatives, three unanimously and one having only a single member, Mel Watt (D-NC), voting "present". [41] After the articles were approved, Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) were appointed as managers to conduct the trial in the Senate, with Schiff and Goodlatte being designated as lead managers. [42] [43] The articles of impeachment were sent to the Senate, where the proceedings were started on June 24. [44] On that day, Senators passed two resolutions: one providing for a summons for Kent to answer the articles against him, [45] and the other providing for a committee to analyze the evidence against him and report their findings to the full Senate. [46] Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Mel Martinez (R-FL) were designated as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the committee. [47] On June 25, when Senate officials traveled to the prison facility where Kent was confined to serve him with the formal summons to the impeachment trial, he presented them with a new resignation letter, effective on June 30. [11] The development was reported to the Senate, which directed that copies of Kent's letter be sent to President Obama and the House of Representatives. [10] [11] On June 30, President Obama accepted his resignation [12] and on July 20, the House of Representatives passed a resolution [13] asking the Senate to end the impeachment trial against Kent. [48] The Senate agreed to the resolution on July 22. [14]

References

  1. ↑ "Today in Texas History: It's Judge Sam Kent's birthday". 22 June 2010.
  2. ↑ "Samuel B. Kent". OpenJurist.org. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
  3. 1 2 "Kent, Samuel B. - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Flood, Mary; Lise Olsen (2009-02-24). "Kent plea avoids a trial Federal judge admits to 1 count of obstruction; 5 sexual charges will be dropped KENT: Sentencing in May". Archived from the original on 2009-06-08. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  5. ↑ Flood, Mary; Powell, Stewart (11 May 2009). "Effort to impeach Galveston federal judge may start today" . Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  6. ↑ Suzanne Gamboa, House Approves Inquiry to Decide on Federal Judge's Impeachment Archived August 28, 2012, at the Wayback Machine , Associated Press, May 13, 2009. Retrieved on June 24, 2009
  7. 1 2 Powell, Stewart (2009-06-11). "Full House to weigh firing Kent, stopping $174,000 salary". Houston Chronicle . Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  8. ↑ Powell, Stewart (2009-06-19). "Judge Kent's impeachment came fast and furious". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2012-12-16. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
  9. ↑ Miller, S.A. (2009-06-27). "Impeached judge Samuel B. Kent tenders his resignation". The Washington Times . Archived from the original on 2013-02-09. Retrieved 2009-10-27. The House last impeached a federal judge 20 years ago when Walter Nixon was ultimately removed as chief judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. He lied to a grand jury about helping get drug charges dropped against a business partner's son.
  10. 1 2 "Statement From Senate Leaders On Judge Kent Resignation Letter" (Press release). Senate Democratic Caucus. 2009-06-25. Retrieved 2009-06-25. After being served with a summons to file an answer to the articles of impeachment, Judge Kent signed a letter of resignation effective June 30th, 2009.
  11. 1 2 3 Olsen, Lisa (2009-06-25). "Judge Kent resigns amid impeachment proceedings". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2013-04-19. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  12. 1 2 Gamboa, Suzanne (2009-06-30). "White House accepts convicted judge's resignation". AP. Archived from the original on 2010-03-26. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
  13. 1 2 Paschenko, Chris (2009-07-22). "Congress wrapping up business on Kent". Galveston County Daily News. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-07-22. On Tuesday, the House approved without objection a resolution to end impeachment proceedings against Kent, who was on the bench in Galveston for almost 20 years.
  14. 1 2 Gamboa, Suzanne (2009-07-22). "Congress ends jailed judge's impeachment". AP. Archived from the original on 2009-07-23. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
  15. ↑ "Law's Hall of Shame - Justice Samuel B. Kent". Law Museum. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  16. ↑ Galveston Daily News: Kent, his accuser in same building
  17. ↑ "District Court General Orders | Southern District of Texas" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  18. ↑ The Galveston County Daily News
  19. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2008-01-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. 1 2 Olsen, Lise; Mary Flood; Roma Khanna (2008-08-29). "U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent indicted in sex case" . Retrieved 2008-08-29.
  21. 1 2 Lozano, Juan (2009-01-07). "Federal judge indicted on additional sex charges". Chicago Daily Herald. AP. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  22. ↑ U.S. District Court Judge Charged in Superseding Indictment with Aggravated Sexual Abuse and Abusive Sexual Contact Archived June 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine , U.S. Department of Justice Press Release, January 6, 2009
  23. 1 2 3 Casey, Rick (2009-02-25). "The Judge Sam soap opera continues". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  24. ↑ 28 U.S.C.   § 371
  25. ↑ 28 U.S.C.   § 372
  26. 1 2 Tennissen, Marilyn (2009-08-28). "5th Circuit denies Kent's disability status, recommends impeachment". Southeastern Texas Record. Retrieved 2009-06-03.
  27. ↑ Staff reporter (2009-05-11). "Federal Judge Gets Prison Sentence". KRPC Houston. Archived from the original on 2009-05-13. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  28. ↑ Powell, Stewart M. (2009-06-15). "Kent starts his prison sentence". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2013-01-19. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  29. ↑ Paschenko, Chris (2009-11-07). "Former judge Kent moved to Florida prison". Galveston County Daily News. Archived from the original on 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
  30. ↑ Olsen, Lise (July 30, 2011). "Disgraced ex-judge Kent out of prison, confined to cabin". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
  31. ↑ Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator Archived September 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine , query for inmate no. 45225-079, accessed June 23, 2013.
  32. ↑ Conyers, John Jr. (2009-05-12). "H. Res. 424: Authorizing and directing the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire whether the House should impeach Samuel B. Kent, a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas". Congress.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  33. ↑ Sensenbrenner, F. James Jr. (2009-05-12). "H. Res. 431: Impeaching Samuel B. Kent, judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, for high crimes and misdemeanors". Congress.gov. United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  34. ↑ Staff reporter (2009-05-27). "Fifth Circuit Takes Action Against Judge Kent". The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  35. ↑ Gamboa, Suzanne (2009-06-03). "House panel holds hearing on judge's crimes". AP. Archived from the original on June 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  36. ↑ Lozano, Juan A. (2009-06-02). "Convicted federal judge submits resignation letter". AP. Retrieved 2009-06-15.[ dead link ] (Archived by WebCite at "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2009-06-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link))
  37. 1 2 Cohen, Tom (2009-06-03). "Victims allege years of sexual misconduct by federal judge". CNN. Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  38. ↑ Powell, Stewart M. (2009-06-09). "House wastes no time in starting ouster of Judge Kent". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2013-01-20. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  39. ↑ .Paschenko, Chris (2009-06-18). "House vote on Kent impeachment scheduled". Galveston County Daily News. Archived from the original on 2009-07-03. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
  40. ↑ Paschenko, Chris (2009-06-19). "Spending bill pre-empts Kent impeachment". Galveston County Daily News. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
  41. ↑ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 418". United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
  42. ↑ Conyers, John Jr. (2009-06-19). "H. Res. 565: Appointing and authorizing managers for the impeachment of Samuel B. Kent, a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas". United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2009-06-25.[ permanent dead link ]
  43. ↑ Staff reporter (2009-06-19). "House Impeaches U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent; Schiff and Goodlatte to serve as lead impeachment managers during Senate trial". Pasadena Independent. Archived from the original on 2013-01-31. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  44. ↑ Paschenko, Chris (2009-06-25). "Senate accepts impeachment articles against Kent". Galveston County Daily News. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  45. ↑ Reid, Harry (2009-06-24). "S. Res. 202: A resolution to provide for issuance of a summons and for related procedures concerning the articles of impeachment against Samuel B. Kent". United States Senate. Retrieved 2009-06-25.[ permanent dead link ]
  46. ↑ Reid, Harry (2009-06-24). "S. Res. 203: A resolution to provide for the appointment of a committee to receive and to report evidence with respect to articles of impeachment against Judge Samuel B. Kent". United States Senate. Retrieved 2009-06-25.[ permanent dead link ]
  47. ↑ "Senate Leaders Announce Bipartisan Committee To Investigate Judge Samuel Kent" (Press release). Senate Democratic Caucus. 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  48. ↑ Conyers, John Jr. (2009-07-20). "H. Res. 661: Instructing the managers on the part of the House of Representatives in the impeachment proceeding now pending against Samuel B. Kent to advise the Senate that the House of Representatives does not desire further to urge the articles of impeachment against Samuel B. Kent". United States House of Representatives. Archived from the original on 2014-10-02. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
Samuel Kent
KentSamuel.jpg
Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
In office
October 1, 1990 –June 30, 2009
Legal offices
Preceded byJudge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas
1990–2009		Succeeded by
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