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Florida representative who suffered through an impeachment trial rallies to president's side
Updated December 18, 1998
10:10 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Court TV) — As the House prepared to impeach the president Saturday for only the second time in the history of the United States, one of the few men who can sympathize with his plight rallied to his side.
Alcee Hastings, a former U.S. district judge, was impeached and ousted from one federal office, but managed to attain another. Hastings now sits on the House, representing the 23rd district of Florida, and defended Bill Clinton on the floor during Friday's historic debate.
"I was removed from office after being found not guilty, and here we are, talking can we censure?" he told the House. "Today, we reach the zenith of unfairness. Our military, under the aegis of our president, is attempting to downgrade weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and we are unmasked, as a body, degrading the institution of the presidency. It's not sad, it's irrational."
"You may win today," Hastings told his Republican colleagues Thursday afternoon, "but the nation looses today and tomorrow."
Hastings was charged with engaging in a conspiracy to receive a bribe in order to change the sentence of a convicted felon and improperly disclosing wiretapping information. He was also charged with falsely testifying in a criminal trial.
Hastings prepared a statement opposing the impeachment of the president in which he and his attorney Terence Anderson, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law, outlined the steps a trial will have to take.
"[T]he House must decide whether the charges and the evidence against the President warrant imposing the burdens of Senate trial proceedings on the Nation and the world," argued Hastings. "All Members should understand the nature and extent of the extraordinary burdens that a decision to impeach the President would impose."
Anderson, who represented Hastings throughout his impeachment trial, estimates the president's trial might last — under the best of circumstances — until late July. More likely, both Anderson and Hastings see the trial lasting until the end of 1999 — ushering in the new millenium.
According to their statement, the process would unfold in three stages: a pleadings, procedures, and motions stage; trial preparation; and a trial and judgment stage.
Stage one lasted seven months for Hastings and Anderson estimates the president will take at least three months to finish with pleadings and motions. Hastings took three and a half months to prepare for trial and Anderson estimates about that time for Clinton. The president's trial would last at least seven weeks and could last for more than 14, Anderson estimates.
If the House passes one article of impeachment, House Majority Leader Trent Lott said the Senate would take the first "preliminary steps" toward a trial either the day it convenes, Jan. 6, or the following
day. The White House would be given several days to submit its pleadings, a formal response to the charges cited in any articles of impeachment.
According to Lott, the length of an impeachment trial would depend on many factors: how many articles there are; what evidence had to be presented; would there be witnesses; and whether the White House take advantage of every legal remedy or possibility.
Since the establishment of the republic in 1789, more than 50 impeachment proceedings have been initiated in the House — but only 15 reached the Senate. Only once before was a president — Andrew Johnson in 1868 — involved. The Senate dismissed two cases on procedural grounds, acquitted six persons, and issued seven convictions.
Previous cases considered for impeachment involved a U.S. senator, federal judges, Supreme Court justices — including Associate Justice William Douglas — and a secretary of war. Although Richard Nixon was not impeached, the Judiciary Committee voted to recommend three articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives. Nixon resigned before the House actually voted on the articles.
Court TV's Aldina Vazao Kennedy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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