Washington, DC: Today the House Judiciary Committee Task Force on Judicial Impeachment, on which Congressman Bob Goodlatte serves as Ranking Member, presented four articles of impeachment against Judge Samuel B. Kent to the House Judiciary Committee.  The House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed all four articles of impeachment which include two articles on the grounds of sexual assault, one article on the grounds of obstruction of justice, and one article on the grounds of providing false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice. Judge Kent is only the 14th federal judge in the nation’s history to be the focus of an impeachment in the House. The last federal judges to face impeachment charges were about twenty years ago in 1989.

According to a federal Grand Jury indictment, Judge Kent is alleged to have committed acts constituting Abusive Sexual Contact and Attempted Aggravated Sexual Abuse in 2003 and 2007 against a Deputy Clerk occasionally assigned to Judge Kent’s courtroom.  Judge Kent is also alleged to have committed similar acts from 2004 through at least 2005 against his secretary.  Last week, at an evidentiary hearing the House Judiciary Committee Task Force on Judicial Impeachment heard testimony from both of these witnesses.

In February 2009, Judge Kent pled guilty to Obstruction of Justice.  As part of his plea, he admitted to engaging in non-consensual sexual contact with both individuals.  Judge Kent also admitted that he falsely testified before the Special Investigative Committee of the Fifth Circuit regarding his unwanted sexual contact with one of the individuals.  On May 11, 2009, Judge Kent was sentenced to a term of 33 months in prison and ordered to pay fines and restitution to both individuals.  Judge Kent is ordered to surrender himself to the federal prison authorities on June 15th.

“When evidence emerges that an individual is abusing his judicial office for his own advantage, the integrity of our entire judicial system becomes compromised and the House of Representatives has the duty to investigate the matter and take the appropriate actions to end the abuse and restore confidence in the judicial system,” said Rep. Goodlatte.  “After hearing the testimony of witnesses and examining all the evidence it has become clear that Judge Kent has engaged in conduct, including obstruction of justice and repeated sexual assaults on court employees, which merits the passage of all four articles of impeachment against Judge Kent.”

In addition to Goodlatte, the bipartisan task force is made up of the following members:
Adam Schiff (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Pedro Pierluisi (D-Puerto Rico), Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Dan Lungren (R-CA), Randy Forbes (R-VA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX).

The Task Force is also examining allegations of wrongdoing by and the possible impeachment of U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous of the Eastern District of Louisiana.