The Battle of Hastings

Should the impeached judge head the House Intel Committee?

IN the summer of 1988, the House of Representatives considered articles of impeachment against Alcee Hastings, a federal judge in Florida accused of conspiring to take bribes. It was only the tenth time in U.S. history that a judge had faced impeachment, and Michigan Democratic congressman John Conyers took to the floor to suggest that some of the allegations against Hastings, the first black to serve on the federal bench in Florida, might be racially motivated. Nevertheless, Conyers said, the case had to be judged on its merits, and on those merits-as chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice that investigated the matter, he knew the case backward and forward-he had decided to vote for impeachment.

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Byron York

Byron York is a former White House correspondent for National Review.

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Should the impeached judge head the House Intel Committee?

IN the summer of 1988, the House of Representatives considered articles of impeachment against Alcee Hastings, a federal judge in Florida accused of conspiring to take bribes. It was only the tenth time in U.S. history that a judge had faced impeachment, and Michigan Democratic congressman John Conyers took to the floor to suggest that some of the allegations against Hastings, the first black to serve on the federal bench in Florida, might be racially motivated. Nevertheless, Conyers said, the case had to be judged on its merits, and on those merits-as chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice that investigated the matter, he knew the case backward and forward-he had decided to vote for impeachment.