on June 19, 1986, to Kastenmeier's subcommittee before the panel drew up articles of impeachment, future Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Claiborne's principal lawyer, repeated his allegations that Claiborne's trial was tainted by government misconduct. But members indicated these assertions were irrelevant. Kastenmeier noted the allegations did not change the facts — that Claiborne was found by a Nevada jury to have filed false income tax returns in 1979 and 1980. Having passed the subcommittee, the matter moved on to be considered by the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, which had last considered an impeachment in 1974 when it recommended removing President Richard Nixon from office (Nixon resigned before a House vote). Judiciary Chairman Peter Rodino, Jr., D-N.J., who presided over those Nixon proceedings, told colleagues on June 26, 1986, that judges "simply cannot act in a way that violates the public trust and undermines the integrity of the judicial office. Once public confidence in the courts erodes, our tripartite system of government fails." Whether or not tax fraud rose to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors," or whether a convicted felon could be allowed to remain on the federal bench, were not questions discussed at great length. After only a few hours of debate, the House Judiciary Committee reported the articles of impeachment. Impeachment vote On July 22, 1986, the United States House of Representatives adopted H Res 461, voting to impeach Claiborne on a 406-0 roll call. As a unanimous vote, Claiborne's fellow Nevadans, Reps. Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Barbara Vucanovich, a Republican, also voted for impeachment. Claiborne became the 14th federal official to be impeached by the U.S. House and the first to be impeached on a unanimous roll-call vote. While his impeachment was historic, the debate and final action on July 22 was anticlimactic. No one really doubted that Claiborne would be impeached or that it would be unanimous. On August 6, 1986, the U.S. House presented articles of impeachment to the U.S. Senate. Hamilton Fish IV, R-N.Y., the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, expressed his position saying, "Judge Claiborne is more than a mere embarrassment. He is a disgrace — an affront — to the judicial office and the judicial branch he was appointed to serve." Judiciary Chairman Rodino spoke of safeguarding the judicial system, noting, "If we fail to act, the confidence of the people in that system