The Nation - News from July 8, 1988

A House subcommittee voted unanimously to recommend impeachment of U.S. District Judge Alcee L. Hastings, charging that he solicited a bribe, lied about it at his 1983 trial to win acquittal and leaked confidential information contained in an FBI wiretap order he signed. By a 7-0 vote, the House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice referred to the full committee 17 articles of impeachment. The final article charges that in allegedly committing the enumerated “high crimes and misdemeanors,” he “did . . . undermine confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary and betray the trust of the people of the United States.” Hastings, Florida’s first black federal judge, called the proceedings politically motivated.