| [{"text": "The Senate convicted U.S. District Judge Alcee Hastings of Florida of eight impeachment articles, removing the 53-year-old judge from his $89,500-a-year, lifetime job."}, {"text": "Mr. Hastings's case was particularly nettlesome because it marked the first time a federal official was impeached and removed from office on charges of which a jury had acquitted him."}, {"text": "In 1983, Mr. Hastings was found not guilty of accepting a $150,000 bribe in a case before him, the central charge on which the Senate convicted him."}, {"text": "He was only the sixth federal judge ever ousted from office after an impeachment trial."}, {"text": "With no floor debate, the Senate on Friday voted 69-26 to convict Mr. Hastings of perjury and conspiring to accept a bribe, five votes more than needed."}, {"text": "Conviction on any single impeachment article was enough to remove Judge Hastings from office."}, {"text": "He was found not guilty of three charges, involving accusations that he had improperly disclosed information about a sensitive, government investigation."}, {"text": "The Senate didn't vote on six lesser charges."}, {"text": "Although Mr. Hastings had been acquitted by a jury, lawmakers handling the prosecution in Congress had argued that the purpose of impeachment isn't to punish an individual."}, {"text": "Instead, they argued that impeachment aims to protect public institutions from people who have abused their positions of trust, irrespective of the outcome of prior criminal or civil cases."}, {"text": "Mr. Hastings faced the senators and sat impassively during the first two roll-call votes, then quickly left the chamber."}, {"text": "In an impromptu news conference on the Capitol steps, he denounced the senators' action."}, {"text": "'Their opinion is devoid of the wisdom of the forefathers' teaching regarding impeachment,' Mr. Hastings said."}, {"text": "For the future, he said he would run for governor of Florida."}, {"text": "Mr. Hastings was appointed to the federal bench by President Carter in 1979 and was one of the few black federal judges in the country."}, {"text": "While he packed the Senate gallery with his supporters during some of the impeachment trial, most civil rights groups kept their distance from his case."}, {"text": "Following the impeachment conviction, Dr. Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, issued a restrained statement, warning that the Hastings case could set a 'dangerous precedent,' but adding, 'We must respect the considered judgment of the Senate.'"}] |