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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 ruled in 1798 that senators could not be impeached, but only expelled, while debating the impeachment trial of William Blount, who had already been expelled. Expulsion has not occurred since the expulsion of Senator William Lorimer in July 1912.
Censure, a lesser punishment which represents a formal statement of disapproval, has been more common since the start of the 20th 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.
Expelled senators
| Year | Senator | Party | State | Reason | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1797 | William Blount | Democratic-Republican | Tennessee | Treason and conspiracy to incite the Creek and Cherokee Indians to assist Great Britain in invading Spanish Florida. | |
| 1861 | James M. Mason | Democratic | Virginia | Supporting Confederate rebellion; Sebastian's expulsion was posthumously reversed in 1877. | |
| Robert M. T. Hunter | Democratic | ||||
| Thomas Lanier Clingman | Democratic | North Carolina | |||
| Thomas Bragg | Democratic | ||||
| James Chesnut Jr. | Democratic | South Carolina | |||
| Alfred O. P. Nicholson | Democratic | Tennessee | |||
| William K. Sebastian | Democratic | Arkansas | |||
| Charles B. Mitchel | Democratic | ||||
| 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 | |||
Expulsion proceedings not resulting in expulsion
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, and some 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 Confederate rebellion | |
| 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 (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 | 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 (later 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 | Both investigated for electoral 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 of 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 Senate vote | |
| 2011 | John Ensign | Republican | Nevada | Resigned | Charged with financial improprieties stemming from an extramarital affair; resigned before Senate vote | |
Censured senators
| 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 | Released 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 Tillman | Democratic | South Carolina | Fighting on the Senate floor with each other. | |
| John L. McLaurin | |||||
| 1929 | Hiram Bingham III | Republican | Connecticut | Employed Charles Eyanson as a Senate staff member while Eyanson was employed by the Manufacturers Association of Connecticut. | |
| 1954 | Joseph McCarthy | Republican | Wisconsin | Refusal to cooperate with and verbal abuse of the members of the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections during a 1952 investigation of his conduct, and 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, and 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. Talmadge was technically "denounced," rather than censured. | |
| 1990 | David Durenberger | Republican | Minnesota | Unethical conduct relating to reimbursement of Senate expenses and acceptance of outside payments and gifts. | |
See also
- List of New York State Legislature members expelled or censured
- Censure in the United States
- List of federal political scandals in the United States
- List of federal political sex scandals in the United States
Federal politicians:
- List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded
- List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
State and local politics:
References
- Brockell, Gillian (January 5, 2021). "The senators who were expelled after refusing to accept Lincoln's election". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
- "Senate historical minutes". U.S. Senate. Archived from the original on November 17, 2002. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
- "TO PASS THE SECOND BRANCH OF S. RES. 220, WHICH STATES, "THAT WILLIAM LANGER IS NOT ENTITLED TO BE A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA."". GovTrack.us. March 27, 1942. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
Sources
- "Expulsion and Censure". Official website of the United States Senate. Archived from the original on November 15, 2002. Retrieved September 29, 2006.