A U.S. Senator had his master’s degree revoked Friday for an act of plagiarism committed in 2007.

Democratic Senator John Walsh of Montana disagreed with the decision, but accepted the consequences. “Though I disagree with the findings made by the [U.S. Army] War College, I accept its decision. I apologize to all Montanans for the plagiarism in my 2007 paper and I am prepared to live with the consequences,” he said, according to Reuters.

Walsh abandoned his election bid in August after a July New York Times article pointed out the plagiarism.

“The board found that then-Colonel John Walsh did commit the offense of plagiarism and thus his master’s degree and status as a graduate of the U.S. Army War College should be revoked,” stated U.S. Army War College spokeswoman Carol Kerr on Friday.

Walsh had been appointed by the Montana Governor Steve Bullock to the Senate seat after U.S. Senator Max Baucus was named ambassador to China.

Walsh is also an Iraq war veteran and former commander of the Montana National Guard.

The New York Times in July re-published the 14-page thesis with highlights showing exactly where the paper contains passages “without attribution” or with “improper attribution.” Nearly the entire paper is highlighted, half in pink denoting passages that were not cited at all, and half in yellow for passages that were improperly cited, such as instances where Walsh cited where he received his information but did not use quotations though he copied passages word-for-word.

Amanda Curtis is replacing Walsh as the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate; She is 20 percentage points behind the Republican candidate U.S. Representative Steve Daines in recent polls.