Judge Hastings, of the Southern District of Florida, was tried and acquitted on charges of bribery in 1983. After his acquittal, however, a special judicial investigatory committee reviewed the trial and concluded that Hastings had lied and fabricated evidence. Additionally, he was accused of leaking evidence obtained through wiretaps in an unrelated investigation. The committee recommended that Hastings be impeached, a recommendation that was forwarded by the Judicial Conference of the United States to the House of Representatives. The House Committee on the Judiciary assigned the matter to a subcommittee, which held investigatory hearings in 1988. After the conclusion of the hearings, seventeen articles of impeachment were approved and submitted to the entire House, which, in turn, approved a resolution of impeachment. In the Senate, the trial began with an investigation by a special committee empanelled to review the evidence in the case. The Senate conducted the trial in October 1989, and convicted Hastings on nine of the seventeen articles.

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