Congressman Alcee Hastings, an outspoken and sometimes controversial figure in Florida and Washington, has died after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 84.
Hastings began his career as a civil rights lawyer. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to a U.S. District Court seat, making him Florida’s first African American federal judge.
Two years later, Hastings was indicted by a federal grand jury and later convicted on conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges for soliciting a bribe. While he was acquitted of the charges in a second trial, in 1988 the House of Representatives voted to impeach Hastings for his role in the bribery scandal. He was convicted in the Senate and removed from the federal bench.
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