Ranking Member Smith: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing following Judge Samuel Kent’s guilty plea and sentencing. This public hearing is an indication of how seriously we take the possible impeachment of Judge Kent.
Judge Kent, from my home state of Texas, comes before the Task Force as a convicted felon, having pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. As part of the plea agreement, five counts of the indictment charging Judge Kent with the sexual assault of two court employees were dismissed.
On June 15, Judge Kent will start serving a 33-month prison sentence. By resigning effective June 1, 2010, Judge Kent is attempting to collect his full judicial salary for another year, even while he sits in a federal prison.
Judge Kent and his lawyer are banking on the fact that impeachments take time, literally. Judge Kent receives $465 of his taxpayer-funded salary every day he remains in office.
We are here today to put an end to Judge Kent’s abuse of authority and exploitation of American taxpayers. Allowing Judge Kent to remain on the bench and retain a taxpayer-funded salary is an affront to the very idea of justice that Judge Kent once swore to uphold.
Our constitutional democracy depends on the rule of law and the equal protection of the laws. These principles depend in turn on a disinterested judiciary, whose members cannot place themselves above the law.
I am not unsympathetic to the claims that Judge Kent endured difficult personal tragedies and may suffer from mental illness. However, he does not have the right to continue to serve as a federal judge and to collect a federal salary while sitting in prison.
And although his attorney claims that Congress has “better things to do” than pursue impeachment, I disagree. Ensuring that a federal judge convicted of a felony does not receive a taxpayer-funded salary while sitting in jail is important to our system of justice and a priority of the Judiciary Committee.
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