And in January 2010, just days after the GOP-led 112th Congress was sworn-in, a judge ordered DeLay to spend three years in prison for those crimes.

First elected to the House in 1984, DeLay climbed the leadership ladder as his Texas district boomed. The 1994 Republican revolution made him House majority whip, and he soon gained the nickname "The Hammer" for his strict enforcement of party loyalty.

In 2003, DeLay was elected House majority leader, but his moment in the sun didn't last long. His close connections to superlobbyist Jack Abramoff tarred the majority leader and two of his aides with scandal.

After a Texas prosecutor indicted him on unrelated campaign contribution violations, DeLay was forced to step down from House leadership in January 2006. The charges plagued DeLay's reelection battle, and he resigned from the House in June 2006.

To the end, DeLay was a staunch partisan. "You show me a nation without partisanship, and I'll show you a tyranny," Mr. DeLay said in his farewell speech from the House floor.

In His Own Words

"This is an abuse of power," DeLay said after being convicted of money laundering in a Texas courtroom. "It's a miscarriage of justice, and I still maintain that I am innocent. The criminalization of politics undermines our very system, and I am very disappointed in the outcome."

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