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Last week, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against Florida Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings. You may recall that Hastings is one of only six federal judges ever to be removed from office through impeachment. (He was convicted by the Senate on eight articles of impeachment related to a bribery scandal.) Most recently, Hastings was rejected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the chairmanship of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence after Judicial Watch and others complained about his corrupt history.

Congressman Alcee Hastings Sued Over Attempted Improper Firing

So, what did Hastings do this time? The Florida Congressman violated federal law by attempting to improperly terminate the employment of our client, Mark Milosch, and three other employees of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also known as the Helsinki Commission). After rejecting Hastings for the sensitive intelligence post, Nancy Pelosi threw him a bone and installed him as Helsinki Commission Chairman. Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Milosch, the Commission’s counsel.

Here’s why this is a shameless example of abuse of power on the part of Hastings, and a clear violation of the law: By law, “[a]ll decisions pertaining to the hiring, firing, and fixing of pay of [Helsinki] Commission staff personnel shall be by a majority vote of the personnel and administration committee…”

After taking over as Chairman, however, Hastings began efforts to terminate employees without properly seeking the approval of his colleagues. Hastings also ignored the strenuous objections raised by Congressmen Christopher Smith and Senator Sam Brownback, both Commission members, who noted Mr. Milosch’s “impressive academic and research credentials” in a February 2, 2007 letter to Hastings. “The firings are illegal and simply cannot stand,” they wrote. Indeed, the general counsel for the Commission issued a legal opinion that any firing/hiring action that does not have the support of the majority of the Commission leadership would be contrary to law.

Why did Hastings target these specific employees? Well, I’ll tell you this. They share one thing in common (aside from their stellar credentials). They are all conservative and pro-life. Hastings is not. The attempted firings appear to be both political and illegal. (Interesting to compare and contrast this story with the U.S. Attorney “scandal.”) Hastings seems to think that the Helsinki Commission is a political plaything rather than an independent agency set up to monitor important international human rights, religious freedom, rule of law (!), and labor rights (!) issues on behalf of the United States.

The bottom line, legally speaking, is this: Congressman Hastings lacks the unilateral authority to fire Mr. Milosch. A hearing is scheduled for April 16th.

As a result of our lawsuit, I understand that Hastings now says he won’t fire Mr. Milosch unless he gets the necessary 3 out of 4 votes on the personnel and administration committee. Two members (Hastings and Maryland Democratic Rep. Ben Cardin) will vote in favor of termination. Rep. Smith (R-NJ) is a solid vote against termination. Senator Brownback (R-KS), who admirably co-signed a letter against the firings less than two months ago, is thought to now be on the fence. Feel free to call Senator Brownback at (202) 224-6521, or email him here, and let him know what you think about Hasting’s illegal attempt to turn the Helsinki Commission into his personal fiefdom. You can bet he’ll get a lot of pressure from Hastings (and Cardin) to buckle.

Tom Fitton is president of Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law