WASHINGTON (AP) _ The U.S. House scheduled a vote for Thursday morning on the impeachment of a Texas federal judge in prison for lying about sexual assaults of two women.
The House filed paperwork Wednesday to set up the vote on four articles of impeachment against U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent.
Kent entered the Devens Federal Medical Center in Massachusetts Monday to begin serving a 33-month sentence.
He pleaded guilty last month to lying to judicial investigators about the sexual attacks. But he has refused to resign until June 2010. His request for a disability retirement was rejected.
House approval of the impeachment articles would send the case to the Senate for a trial.
Several lawmakers have complained that Kent will collect his $174,000 annual salary and retirement benefits while sitting in prison. The impeachment process is the only way to force a federal judge out of office.