House Judiciary Leaders Speak Out on Texas Judge

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/legal_beat/2009/02/house-judiciary-leaders-speak.html

House Judiciary Leaders Speak Out on Texas Judge

By Seth Stern | February 27, 2009 5:05 PM


The House Judiciary Committee's chairman and top Republican spoke out Friday about the prospect of Judge Samuel Kent continuing to collect a paycheck even after pleading guilty this week to obstruction of justice.

"We are concerned about reports that Judge Samuel Kent may be attempting to retain his pension," Chairman John Conyers Jr. and Ranking Republican Lamar Smith said in a joint statement. "Judge Kent has pled guilty to serious crimes and the idea that he would receive taxpayer money in retirement is something the Committee may well need to review in conjunction with our authority under the Constitution in the areas of judicial misconduct."

Conyers and Smith stopped short of threatening impeachment of Kent, who has admitted that he lied to investigators looking into a sexual complaint against him and that he had non-consensual sexual contact with two female court employees. Kent is seeking a disability exception that would allow him to continue collecting his salary while in prison.

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican and former committee chairman, has threatened to introduce an impeachment resolution if Kent doesn't resign and wrote to the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit asking her to deny the disability request.

[pleah]

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