Authorizing and directing the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire whether the House should impeach Samuel B. Kent, a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Madam Speaker, as you know this resolution authorizes the Committee on the Judiciary to undertake an investigation to determine whether Samuel Kent should be impeached. I know that we are all appalled by the behavior that led to Judge Kent's guilty plea, and can agree that moving forward with an eye to removing him from the bench is the right thing to do.

While we have no objection to most of the resolution, I note that section 3(c) authorizes staff deposition authority, something we have been consistently concerned about due to the potential for abuse. My understanding is that the Judiciary Committee intends tomorrow to adopt a resolution putting in place the same safeguards on staff deposition authority that they currently have in place for their investigation into Judge Porteous. Those rules follow the model rules suggested by the Rules Committee and contain adequate protections for the Minority.

I am inserting the text of the relevant resolutions for the Record.

Our agreement to this unanimous consent request is dependent on the commitment from the Judiciary Committee that they will extend their existing rules on staff deposition authority to this investigation before engaging in staff depositions. Without similar assurances in the future, we will oppose efforts to grant unelected staff unfettered deposition authority.

Resolution

Resolved,

I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on the subject of the resolution (H. Res. 424) earlier adopted.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules be discharged from further consideration of H. Res. 424 and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.