House Proceeding 03-11-10 on Mar 11th, 2010 :: 0:19:25 to 0:25:30
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0:19:22 to 0:19:42( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: to approve the articles of impeachment included in house resolution 1031. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. the gentleman from michigan reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. smith: i yield seven minutes to mr. goodlatte, who is the ranking member of the impeachment task force. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is

0:19:25 to 0:25:30( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Bob Goodlatte

0:19:43 to 0:20:04( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: recognized for seven minutes. mr. goodlatte: thank you. i want to thank our ranking member, the gentleman from texas, for yielding me the time and for his active engagement in support of moving this process forward. article 3 of the constitution provides that federal judges are appointed fo life and that they shall hold their offices during good behavior. indeed, the framers knew that an independent judiciary free

0:20:05 to 0:20:25( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: of political motivations was necessary to the fair resolution of disputes and the fair administration of our laws. however, the framers were also practicing mattists and had the foresight to include the checks of the use of the independence in power that comes with a judicial appointment. article 1, section 2, clause 5

0:20:26 to 0:20:47( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: of the constitution grants the house of representatives the sole power of impeachment. this is a very serious power that should not be undertaken lightly. indeed, it is a rare and solemn occasion when the house of representatives must vote on arcles of impeachment against a federal judge. today's vote will mark the only second time in over 20 years that this has occurred. however, when the evidence

0:20:48 to 0:21:08( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: emerges that an individual is abusing his judicial office for his own advantage, the integrity of the judicial system becomes compromised. and the house of representatives has the duty to investigate the matter and take the appropriate actions to end the abuse and restore confidence in the judicial system.

0:21:09 to 0:21:29( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: on june 17, 2008, the judicial conference of the united states certified to the house of representatives that consideration of impeachment of u.s. district judge g. thomas porteous may be warranted. this certification was the culmination of an investigation and formal complaint by the

0:21:30 to 0:21:51( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: department of justice. a final report appointed by the judicial circuit and coideration and vote by the judicial conference of the united states. in september, 2008, the house passed a resolution instructing the judiciary committee to further investigation whether judge porteous should be impeached.

0:21:52 to 0:22:12( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: the task force on judicial impeachment was then created by the house judiciary committee to further investigate the matter. the task force conducted an exhaustive investigation rking with law enforcement and judicial officials conduct ducting numerous interviews, taking depositions from key witnesses, gathering evidence and transcripts from previous

0:22:13 to 0:22:34( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: investigations and conducting congressional hearings. those efforts have uncovered a large amount of information, including much new evidence that was not uncovered in previous investigations. the evidence shows that among other instances of misconduct while on the federal bedge, judge porteous refused to recuse himself from a federal case when he had previously

0:22:35 to 0:22:55( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: engaged in a corrupt kickback scheme with the attorneys representing the defense, that he later took thousands of dollars in cash from those same attorneys while the case was still pending, that he took gifts from a bail bondsman in exchange for granting favorable bond rates for him and then improperly expunge the records of the two of the bail

0:22:56 to 0:23:17( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: bondsman's employees, one, after porteous was confirmed by the senate to be a federal judge, tha he used his influence as a judge to have the marcottes create relationships, violate a bankruptcy court order mandating that he not incur furthedebt.

0:23:18 to 0:23:38( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: and that he made false statements to the senate and the f.b.i. during his confirmation process. based on the evidence gathered on january 21, 2010, i joined with chairman conyers, ranking member smith and task force chairman schiff to introduce house resolution 1031, which contains four separate articles of impeachment against judge porteous.

0:23:39 to 0:23:59( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: the details of these articles have been discussed already today. it is important to note that every member of the task force on judicial impeachment joined as an original co-sponsor of these articles. furthermore, these articles of impeachment were reported from the judiciary committee with unanimous vote of 24-0, a very rare occurrence.

0:24:00 to 0:24:20( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: it is my strong recommendation that the members of the house now support these articles of impeachment against judge porteous. it is important to note that during the task force iestigation, judge porteous was invited to come testify but declined this invitation. his attorney was also invited to attend the hearings, was given the privilege of asking questions of the witnesses at

0:24:21 to 0:24:41( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: the hearings and was offered the opportunity to bring forth witnesses on behalf of judge porteous. i would like to take this opportunity to thank adam schiff, the chairman of the task force of judicial impeachment, for his leadership in this effort, along with all of the members of the task force on both sides of the aisle. as ranking member of the impeachment task force, i

0:24:42 to 0:25:02( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: appreciate the fact that this effort was undertaken in a nonpartisan fashion. i'd like to also thank chairman conyers and ranking member smith for their comprehensive yet expeditious consideration of these articles of impeachment in the full judiciary committee. and i'd also like to extend additional thanks to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. sensenbrenner, who is the only member of the task force who

0:25:03 to 0:25:23( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: participated in the last series of imachment of federal judges back in the 1980's. his experience and knowledge has been invaluable as well. i urge my colleagues in the house not in a bipartisan manner but in a nonpartisan nner to join in supporting all four of these articles of impeachment and senthis measure to the united states

0:25:24 to 0:25:30( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Goodlatte: senate for trial. time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas