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The United States Constitution gives the Senate the power to expel any member by a two-thirds vote. [1] 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. [2] 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.
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 |
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 |
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. |
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