Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings dies at 84

Rep. Alcee Hastings, the fiercely liberal longtime Florida congressman who was dogged throughout his tenure by an impeachment that ended his fast-rising judicial career, died Tuesday. He was 84.

Hastings' death was confirmed by his chief of staff, Lale M. Morrison. Hastings, a Democrat from the Fort Lauderdale area, announced two years ago that he had pancreatic cancer.

Hastings was known as an advocate for minorities, a defender of Israel and a voice for gays, immigrants, women and the elderly. He held senior posts on the House Rules Committee and the Helsinki Commission, which works with other countries on a variety of multinational issues.

But his impeachment remained a nagging footnote. It was repeatedly invoked in news accounts and seen as derailing his ambitions for a greater leadership role.

Under Florida law, Gov. Ron DeSantis will call a special election in the coming months to fill the vacancy. Hastings’ district is overwhelmingly Democratic - he received 80% of the vote in November.

Hastings’ death, meanwhile, lowers the Democrats’ majority to a scant 218-211 in the House.

Born Sept. 5, 1936, in Altamonte Springs, Florida, a largely black Orlando suburb, Hastings was the son of a maid and a butler. He attended Fisk University and Florida A&M. After earning his law degree he went into private practice, frequently taking on civil rights cases pro bono. He made an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 1970, then earned a state judgeship.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter named him to the federal bench. He was the first Black person to hold a federal judgeship in Florida since Reconstruction.

It wasn’t long, though, before his judicial career was derailed. He became the first sitting U.S. judge tried on criminal charges.

Along with Washington lawyer William Borders Jr., Hastings was accused of soliciting a $150,000 bribe from two convicted racketeers seeking to shorten their sentences. Hastings contended Borders acted without his knowledge in soliciting the bribe.

Borders was convicted and sentenced to five years. Hastings was acquitted, but it didn’t put an end to questions about his ethics, and a judicial panel accused him of fabricating his defense. Though Hastings contended Congress’ actions amounted to double jeopardy, the House impeached him in 1988 and the Senate convicted him in 1989.

A federal judge later reversed the impeachment, saying Hastings was improperly tried by a 12-member panel instead of the full Senate, but his exoneration was short-lived. Ruling later in the case of another ousted judge, the Supreme Court decided 7-2 that courts could not second-guess the Senate’s power to remove federal officials from office.

By then, Hastings had already won a seat in Congress in 1992, taking his oath before the same body that had impeached him.

Hastings remained no stranger to controversy, even in recent years. In 2011, a former aide filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him, claiming he constantly hugged her against her will, pressed his cheek against hers and suggested they go to his hotel room. Hastings called them “ridiculous, bizarre, frivolous” accusations.

The House Ethics Committee cleared Hastings in 2014, finding no “substantial reason to believe” the allegations and “a significant amount of evidence” casting doubt on them.