[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 109 (Monday, July 20, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1853-E1854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REGARDING FURTHER SENATE PROCEEDINGS IN THE SAMUEL KENT IMPEACHMENT 
                                 MATTER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB GOODLATTE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 20, 2009

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to support this resolution 
urging the Senate to end further proceedings to remove Samuel Kent from 
his judicial office.
  On June 18, 2009, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted 
to impeach Judge Samuel Kent by adopting four, separate articles of 
impeachment without a single ``no'' vote.
  This House vote was the result of (1) a thorough investigation into 
Judge Kent's misconduct by the House Judiciary Committee's Task Force 
on Judicial Impeachment, (2) an investigatory hearing on the matter; 
(3) a Task Force meeting at which it made a formal recommendation to 
the full Judiciary Committee that Judge Kent should be impeached, and 
(4) a full Committee markup of the articles of impeachment.
  Indeed, the evidence clearly showed that Judge Kent's misconduct 
merited the serious step of impeachment. Judge Kent lied to the FBI and 
DOJ about the nature of his sexual misconduct with court employees. In 
addition, he pled guilty to felony obstruction of justice and to 
committing repeated acts of nonconsensual sexual contact with court 
employees. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison for committing 
felony obstruction of justice, and on Monday, June 15th, he reported to 
prison and began his prison term.
  However, because the Constitution provides that federal judges are 
appointed for life, Samuel Kent, despite the fact that he was sitting 
in prison, continued to collect his taxpayer-funded salary of 
approximately $174,000 per year, continued to collect his taxpayer-
funded health insurance benefits, and continued to accrue his taxpayer-
funded pension.
  Citizens of the U.S. have a right to a fair and impartial judiciary. 
The House vote to impeach Judge Samuel Kent sent the strong message to 
all federal judges that the House of Representatives will carry out its 
Constitutional duty to root out abuses of power in the federal 
judiciary.
  After the June 18th vote, the Senate began preparations for trial to 
convict Kent and remove him from office. On June 30, 2009, facing a 
public trial in the Senate, Judge Kent finally resigned from office. As 
a result of the swift action by the House and Senate, Samuel Kent is no 
longer a federal judge and he will no longer collect his taxpayer-
funded salary or benefits while sitting in federal prison, nor will he 
do so after his release.
  I would like to take this opportunity to thank Adam Schiff, the 
chairman of the Task Force on Judicial Impeachment, for his leadership 
in this effort, along with all the Members of the Task Force on both 
sides of the aisle. As Ranking Member of the Impeachment Task Force, I 
appreciate the fact that this effort has been undertaken in an 
extremely bipartisan fashion. I would also like to thank Chairman 
Conyers and Ranking Member Smith for their comprehensive, yet 
expeditious and bipartisan consideration of the articles of impeachment 
in the full Judiciary Committee.

[[Page E1854]]

  Now that Samuel Kent is no longer serving as a federal judge, there 
is no longer a need for the Senate to remove him from office. 
Therefore, I support this resolution urging the Senate to end further 
proceedings in this matter.

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