Presently, the disciplinary process begins when aresolution to expel or censure a member is referred to the appropriatecommittee. In the House, this is theCommittee on Ethics (House Ethics Committee); in the Senate, this is theSelect Committee on Ethics (Senate Ethics Committee).
The committee may then ask other Representatives or Senators to come forward with complaints about the member under consideration or may initiate an investigation into the member's actions. Sometimes, members may refer a resolution calling for an investigation into a particular member or matter that may lead to the recommendation of expulsion or censure.
Rule XI (Procedures of committees and unfinished business) of the Rules of the House of Representatives states that the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct can investigate allegations that a member violated "any law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member ... in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities". The Senate Select Committee on Ethics has the equivalentjurisdiction. The committee may then report back to their whole chamber as to its findings and recommendations for further actions.
When an investigation is launched by either committee, an investigatory subcommittee will be formed. Once the investigatory subcommittee has collected evidence, talked towitnesses, and held anadjudicatoryhearing, it will vote on whether the member is found to have committed the specific actions and then will vote on recommendations. If expulsion is the recommendation then the subcommittee's report will be referred to the full House of Representatives or Senate where members may vote to accept, reject, or alter the report's recommendation. Voting to expel requires the concurrence of two-thirds of the members. This is set out in Article 1, Section 5, Clause 2 of theUnited States Constitution.
In the entire history of the United States Congress, 21 members have been expelled: 15 from the Senate and six from the House of Representatives. Of these 21 members, 17 were expelled for supporting theConfederate States in 1861 and 1862. One member's expulsion, SenatorWilliam K. Sebastian of Arkansas, was posthumously reversed. TheU.S. Constitution requires that vacancies in the House of Representatives be filled with aspecial election. Censure has been a much more common form of disciplinary action in Congress over the years, as it requires a much lower threshold of votes to impose.
There have been numerous other attempts to expel members of Congress. In many of those instances members under serious threat of expulsion resigned, including:
1862: SenatorJames F. Simmons,Republican ofRhode Island. On July 14, 1862, theJudiciary Committee reported that the charges ofcorruption against Simmons were "essentially correct"; The Senate adjourned three days later, and Simmons resigned on August 15 before the Senate could take action.
1906: SenatorJoseph R. Burton,Republican ofKansas. Resigned after the Supreme Court upheld his conviction on charges of receiving compensation for intervening with a federal agency.
1922: SenatorTruman H. Newberry,Republican ofMichigan. On March 20, 1920, Newberry was convicted on charges of violating campaign finance laws by spending $3,750 to secure his Senate election. The Supreme Court overturned this decision on May 2, 1921, on the grounds that the Senate exceeded its powers in attempting to regulateprimary elections. On January 12, 1922, the Senate voted 46–41 that Newberry was duly elected in 1918. However, after certain members resumed their efforts to unseat him, Newberry resigned on November 18, 1922, two days before the start of the third session of the67th Congress.
1981: RepresentativeRaymond F. Lederer,Democrat ofPennsylvania, was the only member of theAbscam scandal to win re-election. However he resigned due to "personal legal problems" a week after the House Ethics Committee recommended his expulsion for accepting a $50,000 bribe.[9]
1982: SenatorHarrison A. Williams,Democrat ofNew Jersey, resigned after the Committee on Ethics recommended his expulsion due to his "ethically repugnant" actions in theAbscam scandal.
1995: SenatorBob Packwood,Republican ofOregon, resigned after the Committee on Ethics recommended his expulsion due to his gross sexual misconduct and his attempts to enrich himself through his official position.
2024: SenatorBob Menendez, Democrat ofNew Jersey, On August 20, 2024 Menendez resigned his US Senate seat. He was found guilty on 16 counts of bribery and could face some serious lengthy prison time. He received a Mercedes-Benz car, 13 gold bars, and $486,461 in cash. The gold bars and cash were found stuffed into bags, boxes, boots, and jackets when the FBI raided his home on June 16, 2022.[10][11]
There were other instances in which investigations were brought, but the defendants were exonerated, expulsion was rejected, insufficient evidence was found, or the member's term expired:
1862: The expulsion of SenatorLazarus W. Powell,Democrat of Kentucky, was sought for support for Confederate rebellion. Unlike the three Senators expelled for that reason the same year and the eleven Senators the previous year, Powell was not expelled.
1873: SenatorJames W. Patterson,Republican ofNew Hampshire, was accused of corruption, and a Senate select committee recommended expulsion on February 27. On March 1, a Republican caucus decided that there was insufficient time remaining in the session to deliberate the matter. Patterson's term expired March 3, and no further action was taken.
1893: SenatorWilliam N. Roach,Democrat ofNorth Dakota, was accused ofembezzlement that had allegedly occurred 13 years earlier. After extensive deliberation, the Senate took no action, assuming that it lacked jurisdiction over members' behavior before their election to the Senate.
1905: SenatorJohn H. Mitchell,Republican ofOregon, was indicted on corruption charges on January 1, 1905, and was convicted on July 5 of that year, during a Senate recess. He died on December 8, while his case was still on appeal and before the Senate, which had convened on December 4, could take any action against him.
1907: SenatorReed Smoot,Republican ofUtah, a leader in theLDS Church, was the subject of a two-year investigation by theCommittee on Privileges and Elections, which found that Smoot was not due his seat in the Senate because he was "a leader in a religion that advocatedpolygamy which is contrary to the U.S. Constitution".[12] Smoot's expulsion failed by a vote of 27–43 after the Senate decided that he fit the constitutional requirements to be a Senator.
1919: SenatorRobert M. La Follette Sr.,Republican ofWisconsin, was accused ofdisloyalty after a 1917 speech he gave in opposition to U.S. entry intoWorld War I. The Committee on Privileges and Elections recommended that La Follette not be expelled and the Senate concurred in a 50–21 vote.
1924: SenatorBurton K. Wheeler,Democrat ofMontana, was indicted forconflict of interest, specifically acting as a lawyer, while a senator, in cases in which the U.S. was a party. A Senate committee, however, found that his dealings related to litigation beforestate courts and that he received no compensation for any service beforefederal departments. The Senate exonerated him by a vote of 56–5.[13]
1934: The Committee on Privileges and Elections, jointly considering the case of SenatorsJohn H. Overton andHuey P. Long, bothDemocrats ofLouisiana, determined that the evidence to support charges of election fraud were insufficient to warrant further consideration.
2023: RepresentativeJamaal Bowman, Democrat ofNew York, had a motion of expulsion brought against him by 13 House Republicans after pulling a fire alarm during a vote over an impending government shutdown. Bowman was accused of pulling the alarm, which was in a building other than the Capitol, to delay the bill. Bowman stated that he thought that pulling the alarm would open a locked door and that it was not an attempt to delay the vote. Bowman was caught on camera pulling the fire alarm. He pleaded guilty in October 2023 and agreed to pay a $1,000 fine. He was subsequently censured in a 214–191 vote on December 7, 2023, with three Democrats joining House Republicans in voting for the censure. Afterwards, theHouse Ethics Committee dropped its review of Bowman's actions as moot. Several months later, Bowman lost his primary reelection bid in the most expensive primary race in the history of the United States.[14][15][16]
2023: RepresentativeGeorge Santos, Republican ofNew York, faced a motion of expulsion on November 1 following several criminal fraud charges. The motion failed by a vote of 179–213, with 19 voting present, insufficient to meet the two-thirds threshold. Support was mostly from Democrats, joined by 24 Republicans, while 31 Democrats joined Republicans in opposing.[17] Following the report of an ethics probe, a second motion resulted in his expulsion on December 1, with a vote of 311–114.[18][19]
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