In 1986, the U.S. Congress impeached Nevada fed-
eral judge Harry E. Claiborne, convicted him, and
removed him from the bench. Claiborne had once
been known as a powerful defense attorney in Las
Vegas, earning his reputation by representing pow-
erful casino owners such as Jack Binion. In 1978,
Claiborne was appointed by President Jimmy Carter
to be a federal district judge. After Ronald Reagan
assumed the presidency in 1981, Claiborne’s Las Ve-
gas connections earned him the unwelcome atten-
tion of Reagan’s Department of Justice, which inves-
tigated the judge’s ties to the owner of the infamous
Mustang Ranch and Brothel, Joe Conforte. The Jus-
tice Department gathered evidence that Claiborne
had accepted bribes from Conforte.
In 1984, Claiborne was charged with accepting
bribes and with income tax evasion for not reporting
the bribes as income. Conforte testified against the
judge, but a Reno court was unconvinced, and the
trial ended in a hung jury. Unable to prove that the
money Claiborne had taken from Conforte was a
bribe, the government focused on the fact that the
payments were not reported as income, and a sec-
ond jury found Claiborne guilty of federal income
tax evasion.
While sitting in a federal prison, Claiborne con-
tinued to draw his federal judicial salary, prompting
the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives
to act. By a unanimous vote on July 22, 1986, the
House impeached Claiborne on four charges of tax
evasion and undermining the integrity of the judi-
ciary. The impeachment was then sent to the Senate.
During a Senate committee’s review of the evidence,
Claiborne argued that his conviction was part of a
vendetta by a Republican Justice Department and
that his tax problems were the result of sloppiness on
his part rather than any attempt to deceive the gov-
ernment. The committee presented evidence to the
full Senate, which voted on his removal as a federal
judge.
The Senate convicted Claiborne of three counts
of the four counts against him, with the aye votes
ranging from eighty-seven to ninety. On the remain-
ing count, the Senate was unable to achieve the
two-thirds majority necessary to convict. Among Clai-
borne’s strongest supporters were the two Repub-
lican senators from Nevada, Paul Laxalt and Chic
Hecht, both of whom voted against conviction on at
least two counts of the impeachment. He also re-
ceived the vote of Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Re-
publican. Democrats from Ohio, Louisiana, and Ar-
kansas were also among those who voted against
removal on the first three counts.
Impact Judge Claiborne’s impeachment and re-
moval were followed by the impeachment and re-
moval of two more federal judges. It demonstrated
that Congress could act in a bipartisan manner, as a
Democratic House and Republican Senate worked
together to remove a Democratic judge from his po-
sition.
Further Reading
Denton, Sally, and Roger Morris.The Money and the
Power. New York: Vintage Press, 2002.
Gerhardt, Michael.The Federal Impeachment Process.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
Volcansek, Mary.Judicial Impeachment. Champaign:
University of Illinois Press, 1993.
Douglas ClouatreSee also Congress, U.S.; Conservatism in U.S. poli-
tics; Liberalism in U.S. politics; Supreme Court deci-
sions.Clancy, Tom
Identification American popular novelist
Born March 12, 1947; Baltimore, Maryland
The novels that Clancy published in the 1980’s reflected the
concerns of the Cold War era and featured stories told from
the points of view of characters serving in the militar y or the
CIA. Later in the decade, as the Cold War drew to an end,
Clancy’s novels began to address the post-Cold War era.
Many readers, including fans and critics of Tom
Clancy’s novels, credit the author with creating a
new genre, the techno-thriller. Clancy’s novels com-
bine military technological knowledge, political in-
trigue, espionage, and often terrorism.
In 1984, Tom Clancy entered the publishing world
with his first novel,The Hunt for Red October. First pub-
lished by the Naval Institute Press,The Hunt for Red Oc-
toberowed much of its popularity to President Ronald
Reagan, who praised the novel, calling it “the perfect
yarn.” Reagan’s secretary of defense, Caspar Wein-
berger, also gave the book a positive review inThe
Times Literar y Supplement. The novel soon made the
best seller lists and was later made into a movie star-
ring Alec Baldwin as Clancy’s hero, Jack Ryan.The Eighties in America Clancy, Tom 215