Hastings, Alcee (Lamar) (1936– )

US lawyer, judge, and politician. He then became a federal judge for the Southern District of Florida (1979–89). By the early 1980s, charges surfaced that he had accepted bribes to influence sentences; tried in 1983, he was acquitted by a jury. But in October 1989 he was impeached by the US Senate on eight articles and forced off the federal bench – the sixth federal judge so removed. Returning to private practice, he sought popular vindication and in 1992 was elected to the US House of Representatives.

Hastings was born in Altamonte Springs, Florida. After studying for his BA at Fisk University (1958), he earned his law degree in Florida A&M (1963). He had a private law practice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (1963–77), before becoming a circuit court judge for Broward County (1977–79).