Judiciary
Judge Kent’s Apparent Effort to Collect Retirement Pay Meets a Roadblock
Posted May 27, 2009, 12:56 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The judicial council for the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt a blow to Judge Samuel Kent’s apparent efforts to collect retirement pay after his admission of nonconsensual contact with two court employees.
The 5th Circuit Judicial Council has recommended impeachment, the Houston Chronicle reports, and the circuit’s chief judge has rejected Kent’s request to be certified as disabled. Kent was sentenced to 33 months in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in a plea bargain.
Kent would be too young to retire, but his disability claim could have allowed him to qualify for pay and benefits as a senior judge. Chief Judge Edith Jones noted Kent’s battle with diabetes, depression and alcoholism, but said in a letter posted today that he was ineligible for disability status, the story says.
“Kent has forfeited his claim to such status by pleading guilty to a felony, an impeachable offense,” Jones wrote in the letter. “Further, the interpretation [of federal law] must be influenced by public policy that a claimant should not profit from his own wrongdoing by engaging in criminal misconduct and then collecting a federal retirement salary.”
Two lawmakers have already filed a resolution calling for an investigation that could lead to impeachment.
Hat tip to How Appealing.
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