List of United States Representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded

The United States Constitution (Article 1, Section 5)[1] gives the House of Representatives the power to expel any member by a two-thirds vote. Expulsion of a Representative is rare: only five members of the House have been expelled in its history, all of whom were members of the Democratic Party. Three of those five were expelled in 1861 for joining the Confederate States of America.[2]

However, the House has other, less severe measures with which to discipline members. Censure and reprimand are procedures in which the House may vote to express formal disapproval of a member's conduct. Only a simple majority vote is required. Members who are censured must stand in the well of the House chamber to receive a reading of the censure resolution.[2] A reprimand was once considered synonymous with censure, but in 1976 the House defined a reprimand as a less severe punishment. Members who are reprimanded are not required to stand in the well of the house and have the resolution read to them.

Expelled Representatives

Year Representative Party State Details
1861 John B. Clark Democratic Missouri Disloyalty to the Union; taking up arms against the United States.
1861 John W. Reid Democratic Missouri Disloyalty to the Union; taking up arms against the United States.
1861 Henry C. Burnett Democratic Kentucky Disloyalty to the Union; taking up arms against the United States.
1980 Michael J. Myers Democratic Pennsylvania Convicted of bribery in the Abscam scandal.
2002 James Traficant Democratic Ohio Convicted on ten counts that included bribery, obstruction of justice, and racketeering.[3]

Censured Representatives

Year Representative Party State Details
1832 William Stanbery National Republican Ohio Insulting the Speaker of the House
1842 Joshua Giddings Whig Party Ohio Introduced anti-slavery resolution deemed to be "incendiary". Violated the gag rule prohibiting discussion of slavery.
1856 Laurence M. Keitt Democratic South Carolina Assisted in the caning of Charles Sumner
1864 Benjamin G. Harris Democratic Maryland Made statements supporting the Confederacy.
1864 Alexander Long Democratic Ohio Supported recognition of the Confederacy
1866 John W. Chanler Democratic New York Insulted the House with resolution containing unparliamentary language
1866 Lovell Rousseau Unconditional Unionist Kentucky Assault of Rep. Josiah Grinnell
1867 John W. Hunter Democratic New York Unparliamentary language
1868 Fernando Wood Democratic New York Unparliamentary language
1869 Edward D. Holbrook Democratic Idaho Territory Unparliamentary language
1870 Benjamin Whittemore Republican South Carolina Selling military academy appointments
1870 John T. Deweese Republican North Carolina Selling military academy appointments
1870 Roderick Butler Republican Tennessee Selling military academy appointments
1873 Oakes Ames Republican Massachusetts Prior involvement in Crédit Mobilier of America scandal
1873 James Brooks Democratic New York Prior involvement in Crédit Mobilier of America scandal
1875 John Y. Brown Democratic Kentucky Unparliamentary language
1890 William D. Bynum Democratic Indiana Unparliamentary language
1921 Thomas L. Blanton Democratic Texas Unparliamentary language
1979 Charles Diggs Democratic Michigan Payroll fraud, mail fraud
1980 Charles H. Wilson Democratic California Improper use of campaign funds
1983 Daniel B. Crane Republican Illinois Sexual misconduct with House page
1983 Gerry Studds Democratic Massachusetts Sexual misconduct with House page
2010 Charles B. Rangel Democratic New York Improper solicitation of funds, inaccurate financial disclosure statements, failure to pay taxes.

Reprimanded Representatives

Year Representative Party State Details
1976 Robert L. F. Sikes Democratic Florida Use of office for personal gain
1978 Charles H. Wilson Democratic California Making false statements to House committee
1978 John J. McFall Democratic California Failure to report campaign contributions
1978 Edward Roybal Democratic California Making false statements to House committee, failure to report campaign contributions
1984 George V. Hansen Republican Idaho False statements on financial disclosure form
1987 Austin J. Murphy Democratic Pennsylvania Allowed another person to cast his vote; misusing House funds
1990 Barney Frank Democratic Massachusetts Use of office to fix parking tickets on friend's behalf
1995 Bob Dornan Republican California Criticism of President Bill Clinton as having "gave aid and comfort to the enemy" during the Vietnam war in a floor speech[4]
1997 Newt Gingrich Republican Georgia Use of tax-exempt organization for political purposes; provided false information to House Ethics Committee
2009 Joe Wilson Republican South Carolina Outburst towards President Barack Obama during a speech to a joint session of Congress[5][6]
2012 Laura Richardson Democratic California Use of congressional office staff in 2010 election campaign

Excluded Representatives-elect

Year Representative-elect Party State Details
1899 Brigham Henry Roberts Democratic Utah Denied seat for his practice of polygamy
1967 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Democratic New York Mismanaging his committee's budget in previous Congress, excessive absenteeism, misuse of public funds[7]

See also

Federal politicians:

State and local politics:

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Constitution Online, Article 1
  2. 1 2 CRS Report For Congress Archived 2010-07-07 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ "Archives". CNN.com. April 11, 2002. Archived from the original on April 11, 2008. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  4. ↑ Painin, Eric (January 26, 1995). "REP. DORNAN REBUKED FOR FLOOR TIRADE". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  5. ↑ "CNN, Politics, retrieved 14 September 2009". Cnn.com. 2009-09-10. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  6. ↑ "Carter: Obama a target for racism". English.aljazeera.net. 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
  7. ↑ "1967 Year In Review, UPI.com"

List of federal political scandals in the United States List of federal political sex scandals in the United States

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