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The United States Constitution gives the Senate the power to expel any member by a two-thirds vote. This is distinct from the power over impeachment trials and convictions that the Senate has over executive and judicial federal officials. The Senate concluded in 1798 that Senators could not be impeached, but only expelled, while conducting the impeachment trial of William Blount, who had already been expelled. [1]
The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government. Its first three articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress ; the executive, consisting of the President ; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Articles Four, Five and Six embody concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments, the states in relationship to the federal government, and the shared process of constitutional amendment. Article Seven establishes the procedure subsequently used by the thirteen States to ratify it. It is regarded as the oldest written and codified national constitution in force.
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, which along with the United States House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the legislature of the United States. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C.
Impeachment in the United States is the process by which the lower house of a legislature brings charges against a civil officer of government for crimes alleged to have been committed, analogous to the bringing of an indictment by a grand jury. At the federal level, this is at the discretion of the House of Representatives. Most impeachments have concerned alleged crimes committed while in office, though there have been a few cases in which officials have been impeached and subsequently convicted for crimes committed prior to taking office. The impeached official remains in office until a trial is held. That trial, and their removal from office if convicted, is separate from the act of impeachment itself. Analogous to a trial before a judge and jury, these proceedings are conducted by upper house of the legislature, which at the federal level is the Senate.
Expulsion has not occurred since the Civil War, which most of the expulsions were related to, although this is partly because many members resign rather than face a formal proceeding when expulsion appears possible. Censure, a lesser punishment which represents a formal statement of disapproval, has been more common in the 19th century. Although censure carries no formal punishment, only one Senator (Benjamin R. Tillman) of the nine to be censured has ever been re-elected. Unlike the House of Representatives, which also disciplines by reprimand, a censure is the weakest form of discipline the Senate issues.
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, or a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition. It is usually non-binding, unlike a Motion of no confidence.
The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they compose the legislature of the United States.
Year | Senator | Party | State | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1797 | William Blount | Democratic-Republican | Tennessee | Expelled for treason and conspiracy to incite the Creek and Cherokee Indians to assist Great Britain in invading Spanish Florida. |
1861 | James M. Mason | Democratic | Virginia | Expelled for supporting Confederate rebellion. |
Robert M. T. Hunter | Democratic | |||
Thomas L. Clingman | Democratic | North Carolina | ||
Thomas Bragg | Democratic | |||
James Chesnut, Jr. | Democratic | South Carolina | ||
Alfred O. P. Nicholson | Democratic | Tennessee | ||
William K. Sebastian | Democratic | Arkansas | Expelled for supporting Confederate rebellion. His expulsion was posthumously reversed in 1877. | |
Charles B. Mitchel | Democratic | Expelled for supporting Confederate rebellion. | ||
John Hemphill | Democratic | Texas | ||
Louis Wigfall | Democratic | |||
John C. Breckinridge | Democratic | Kentucky | ||
1862 | Trusten Polk | Democratic | Missouri | |
Waldo P. Johnson | Democratic | |||
Jesse D. Bright | Democratic | Indiana |
Many expulsion proceedings have been begun by the Senate that did not lead to expulsion. In most cases, the expulsion failed to secure the necessary two-thirds vote; in other cases the Senator in question resigned while proceedings were taking place, presumably because the Senator felt that the proceedings would succeed or that his political career would not survive them regardless. In a few cases, the proceedings ended when a Senator died or his term expired.
Year | Senator | Party | State | Result | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1808 | John Smith | Democratic-Republican | Ohio | Not expelled | Assisted Aaron Burr's western expedition; resigned two weeks after expulsion failed |
1856 | Henry Mower Rice | Democratic | Minnesota | Not expelled | Charged with corruption |
1862 | Lazarus W. Powell | Democratic | Kentucky | Not expelled | Accused of supporting the Confederacy |
1862 | James F. Simmons | Republican | Rhode Island | Resigned | Charged with corruption |
1873 | James W. Patterson | Republican | New Hampshire | Term expired | Charged with corruption |
1893 | William N. Roach | Democratic | North Dakota | Not expelled | Charged with embezzlement; Senate determined that charges were too far in the past |
1905 | John H. Mitchell | Republican | Oregon | Died during proceedings | Charged with corruption |
1906 | Joseph R. Burton | Republican | Kansas | Resigned | Convicted and upheld by the Supreme Court for receiving compensation for intervening with a federal agency |
1907 | Reed Smoot | Republican | Utah | Not expelled | Senate committee asserted that Smoot, as a Mormon, belonged to a religion incompatible with US law; Senate found 43-27 that this was not relevant. |
1919 | Robert M. La Follette, Sr. | Republican | Wisconsin | Not expelled | Charged with disloyalty for a speech opposing entry into World War I; Senate found 50-21 that this was not warranted |
1922 | Truman Handy Newberry | Republican | Michigan | Resigned | Convicted of election fraud, but overturned, for excessive spending in a primary election. |
1924 | Burton K. Wheeler | Democratic | Montana | Not expelled | Indicted for conflict of interest after serving in legal cases to which the United States was a party. Exonerated by Senate 56-5 |
1934 | John H. Overton | Democratic | Louisiana | Not expelled | Investigated for election fraud |
Huey Long | |||||
1942 | William Langer | Republican | North Dakota | Not expelled | Charged with corruption and moral turpitude while Governor of North Dakota; full senate voted against expulsion 52-30 |
1982 | Harrison A. Williams | Democratic | New Jersey | Resigned | Convicted for bribery and conspiracy in the Abscam scandal; resigned before a vote by the full Senate |
1995 | Bob Packwood | Republican | Oregon | Resigned | Charged with sexual misconduct and abuse of power; resigned before a Senate vote |
2011 | John Ensign | Republican | Nevada | Resigned | Charged with financial improprieties stemming from an extramarital affair. Resigned before vote. |
Year | Senator | Party | State | Reason |
---|---|---|---|---|
1811 | Timothy Pickering | Federalist | Massachusetts | Reading confidential documents in open Senate session before an injunction of secrecy was removed. |
1844 | Benjamin Tappan | Democratic | Ohio | Releasing to the New York Evening Post a copy of President John Tyler's message to the Senate regarding the treaty of annexation between the United States and the Republic of Texas. |
1902 | Benjamin R. Tillman | Democratic | South Carolina | Fighting on the Senate floor with John L. McLaurin. |
John L. McLaurin | Fighting on the Senate floor with Benjamin R. Tillman. | |||
1929 | Hiram Bingham | Republican | Connecticut | Employing as a Senate staff member Charles Eyanson, who was simultaneously employed by the Manufacturers Association of Connecticut. |
1954 | Joseph McCarthy | Republican | Wisconsin | Abuse and non-cooperation with the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections during a 1952 investigation of his conduct; for abuse of the Select Committee to Study Censure. |
1967 | Thomas J. Dodd | Democratic | Connecticut | Use of his office to convert campaign funds to his personal benefit. Conduct unbecoming a senator. |
1979 | Herman Talmadge | Democratic | Georgia | Improper financial conduct, accepting reimbursements for official expenses not incurred, and improper reporting of campaign receipts and expenditures. |
1990 | David Durenberger | Republican | Minnesota | Unethical conduct relating to reimbursement of Senate expenses and acceptance of outside payments and gifts. |
Censure is a formal, and public, group condemnation of an individual, often a group member, whose actions run counter to the group's acceptable standards for individual behavior. In the United States, governmental censure is done when a body's members wish to publicly reprimand the President of the United States, a member of Congress, a judge or a cabinet member. It is a formal statement of disapproval.
Federal politicians:
State and local politics:
The impeachment of Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was initiated in December 1998 by the House of Representatives and led to a trial in the Senate on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. These charges stemmed from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by Paula Jones. Clinton was subsequently acquitted of these charges by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Two other impeachment articles – a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of power – failed in the House.
Harrison Arlington "Pete" Williams Jr. was a Democrat who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives (1953–1957) and the United States Senate (1959–1982). Williams was convicted on May 1, 1981, for taking bribes in the Abscam sting operation, and resigned from the U.S. Senate in 1982 before a planned expulsion vote.
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The motion to impeach is used to bring an accusation against a person. A majority vote is needed to put the accused on trial. A majority vote convicts for a minor offense, and a two-thirds vote for a major offense. A vote of censure or reprimand requires majority vote, and suspension or expulsion a two-thirds vote.
Expulsion is the most serious form of disciplinary action that can be taken against a Member of Congress. Article I, Section 5 of the United States Constitution provides that "Each House [of Congress] may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member." The processes for expulsion differ somewhat between the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Impeachment of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, the highest court in that state, is a unique event in American history. While demands for such action are relatively common throughout the United States, and the removal of state judges by other means is not uncommon throughout the Union, the scandal of this proportion and the reaction to it is something new.
List of American state and local politicians convicted of crimes List of federal political scandals in the United States List of federal political sex scandals in the United States