The task force voted 10-0 Tuesday, in a rare show of bipartisan harmony among committee members, to recommend four articles of impeachment. Kent was convicted of obstruction of justice earlier this year for lying about unwanted sexual contact with two female subordinates.
"These acts of sexual assault and obstruction of justice are, as the judge who sentenced Mr. Kent to incarceration stated, 'a stain on the justice system itself,'" said California Democrat Adam B. Schiff, who led the task force. "Were the House of Representatives to sit idly by and allow Mr. Kent to continue to hold the office of U.S. District Judge while sitting in prison, and after committing such high crimes and misdemeanors, it would be a stain on the Congress as well."