Sam Kent, the overly touchy-feely federal judge from Galveston who’s in prison on charges relating to drunken sexual harassment of his female employees, resigned today.

He apparently did it to stave off a conviction by the Senate, which along with the House had been fast-tracking his impeachment. Kent had originally tried to resign — effective a year from now — so he could collect his paycheck while impeachment hearings worked their slow way through Congress.

That didn’t sit too well, so Congress started moving fast.

Reports are that when a server came to Kent’s Massachusetts prison to deliver a subpoena, the former judge handed over a letter resigning effective immediately.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2009.