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. 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.

Representatives can also be censured by their state legislatures and state party.

Expelled representatives

Year	Representative	Party		State	Reason
1861	John B. Clark		Democratic	Missouri	Supporting Confederate rebellion.
1861	John W. Reid		Democratic	Missouri
1861	Henry C. Burnett		Democratic	Kentucky
1980	Michael J. Myers		Democratic	Pennsylvania	Convicted of bribery in the Abscam scandal.
2002	James Traficant		Democratic	Ohio	Convicted on ten counts including bribery, conspiracy to defraud the United States, corruption, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, and racketeering.^[3]

Censured representatives

Year	Representative	Party		State	Vote Count	Reason
1832	William Stanbery		National Republican	Ohio	93–44^[4]	Insulting the Speaker of the House.
1842	Joshua Giddings		Whig	Ohio	125–69	Introducing an anti-slavery resolution deemed to be incendiary, and violation of the gag rule prohibiting discussion of slavery.
1856	Laurence M. Keitt		Democratic	South Carolina	106–96	Assisting in the caning of Charles Sumner.
1864	Benjamin G. Harris		Democratic	Maryland	98–20	Making statements in support of the Confederate rebellion.
	Alexander Long		Democratic	Ohio	80–70
1866	John W. Chanler		Democratic	New York	72–30	Insulting the House with a resolution containing unparliamentary language.
1866	Lovell Rousseau		Unconditional Unionist	Kentucky	89–30	Assaulting Rep. Josiah Grinnell on the floor of the House.
1867	John W. Hunter		Democratic	New York	77–33	Using unparliamentary language.
1868	Fernando Wood		Democratic	New York	114–39	Using unparliamentary language.
1869	Edward D. Holbrook		Democratic	Idaho Territory		Using unparliamentary language.
1870	Benjamin Whittemore		Republican	South Carolina	187–0	Selling military academy appointments.
	John T. Deweese		Republican	North Carolina	170–0
	Roderick Butler		Republican	Tennessee	158–0
1873	Oakes Ames		Republican	Massachusetts	182–36	Involvement in the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal.
	James Brooks		Democratic	New York	174–32
1875	John Y. Brown		Democratic	Kentucky	161–79	Using unparliamentary language.
1890	William D. Bynum		Democratic	Indiana	126–104	Using unparliamentary language.
1921	Thomas L. Blanton		Democratic	Texas	293–0	Using unparliamentary language.
1979	Charles Diggs		Democratic	Michigan	414–0	Payroll fraud and mail fraud.
1979	Daniel Flood		Democratic	Pennsylvania		Bribery
1980	Charles H. Wilson		Democratic	California	voice vote	Improper use of campaign funds.
1983	Daniel B. Crane		Republican	Illinois	420–3	Engaging in sexual conduct with a House page.
	Gerry Studds		Democratic	Massachusetts	421–3
2010	Charles Rangel		Democratic	New York	333–79	Improper solicitation of funds, making inaccurate financial disclosure statements, and failure to pay taxes.
2021	Paul Gosar		Republican	Arizona	223–207 (with 1 "present" vote)	Posted an anime video on social media depicting himself committing violence against Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden.^[5]^[6]
2023	Adam Schiff		Democratic	California	213–209 (with 6 "present" votes)	Making unproven allegations and misrepresenting intelligence regarding Russian collusion in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the first impeachment of Donald Trump.^[7]^[8]
2023	Rashida Tlaib		Democratic	Michigan	234–188 (with 4 "present" votes)	Comments related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.^[9]

Reprimanded representatives

Year	Representative	Party		State	Vote Count	Reason
1976	Robert L. F. Sikes		Democratic	Florida	381–3 (with 5 "present" votes)	Use of office for personal gain.^[10]
1978	Charles H. Wilson		Democratic	California	328–41 (with 29 "present" votes)	Role in South Korean influence-buying scandal.^[11]^[12]
1978	John J. McFall		Democratic	California	Voice vote	Role in South Korean influence-buying scandal.^[12]^[13]
1978	Edward Roybal		Democratic	California	Voice vote	Role in South Korean influence-buying scandal.^[12]
1984	George V. Hansen		Republican	Idaho	354–52 (with 6 "present" votes)	False statements on a financial disclosure form.^[14]
1987	Austin J. Murphy		Democratic	Pennsylvania	324–68 (with 20 "present" votes)	Allowed another person to cast his vote, and misused House funds.^[15]
1990	Barney Frank		Democratic	Massachusetts	408–18	Used office to fix 33 parking tickets on behalf of a friend and wrote a misleading memorandum on behalf of the friend to shorten his probation for criminal convictions.^[16]
1995	Bob Dornan		Republican	California	Voice vote	Criticism of President Bill Clinton as having "[given] aid and comfort to the enemy" during the Vietnam war in a floor speech. Dornan's remarks were stricken from the official record and he was banned from speaking on the House floor for 24 hours.^[17]
1997	Newt Gingrich		Republican	Georgia	395–28	Use of a tax-exempt organization for political purposes, and providing false information to the House Ethics Committee.^[18]
2009	Joe Wilson		Republican	South Carolina	240–179 (with five "present" votes)	Making an outburst towards President Barack Obama during a speech to a joint session of Congress.^[19]^[20]
2012	Laura Richardson		Democratic	California	Voice vote	Compelling her congressional office staff to work for her 2010 election campaign and perform personal errands; also fined $10,000.^[21]^[22]
2020	David Schweikert		Republican	Arizona	Voice vote	Permitting his office to misuse taxpayer funds and various violations of campaign finance reporting requirements, federal law and House rules.^[23]

Excluded representatives-elect

Year	Representative-elect	Party		State	Details
1899	Brigham Henry Roberts		Democratic	Utah	Denied seat for his practice of polygamy.
1919	Victor L. Berger		Socialist	Wisconsin	Denied seat on basis of opposition to World War I and conviction under the Espionage Act; the Supreme Court later overturned the conviction.
1920	Victor L. Berger		Socialist	Wisconsin	After being denied a seat the first time, Wisconsin's 5th congressional district reelected Berger in a special election, though Congress again refused to seat Berger, leaving the seat open until 1921.
1967	Adam Clayton Powell Jr.		Democratic	New York	Mismanaging his committee's budget in previous Congress, excessive absenteeism, misuse of public funds.^[24] Powell was reelected to the seat for one more term.

See also

• 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 American federal politicians convicted of crimes
• List of United States senators expelled or censured

State and local politics:

• List of American state and local politicians convicted of crimes

References

1. U.S. Constitution Online, Article 1
2. CRS Report For Congress 2010-07-07 at the Wayback Machine
3. . CNN.com. April 11, 2002. Archived from the original on April 11, 2008. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
4. "List of Individuals Expelled, Censured, or Reprimanded in the U.S. House of Representatives".
5. "List of Individuals Expelled, Censured, or Reprimanded in the U.S. House of Representatives | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
6. Bowden, John (November 18, 2021). "'Absolutely disgraceful': Anger as Paul Gosar shares anime clip showing him killing AOC". Independent. Independent. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
7. Yilek, Caitlin (June 21, 2023). "House votes to censure Rep. Adam Schiff over Trump investigations". CBS News. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
8. "House censures Adam Schiff for alleging collusion between Donald Trump, Russia". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
9. Grisales, Claudia (November 7, 2023). "House votes to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib for Israel-Hamas war comments". NPR. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
10. David E. Rosenbaum, House Reprimands Sikes For Financial Misconduct, New York Times (July 30, 1976).
11. Richard L. Lyons, House Censures Rep. Wilson of California, Washington Post (June 11, 1980).
12. Charles R. Babcock, House Votes Reprimands for Roybal, McFall and Wilson, Washington Post (October 14, 1978).
13. Adam Bernstein, 11-Term Rep. John J. McFall, Washington Post (March 15, 2006).
14. TO ADOPT THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT IN THE MATTER OF GEORGE V. HANSEN. (MOTION PASSED), July 31, 1984.
15. Julie Johnson, House Votes to Reprimand Lawmaker for Misconduct, New York Times (December 19, 1987).
16. Richard L. Berke, House, 408 to 18, Reprimands Rep. Frank for Ethics Violations, New York Times (July 27, 1990).
17. Painin, Eric (January 26, 1995). "REP. DORNAN REBUKED FOR FLOOR TIRADE". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
18. Adam Clymer, House, in 395-28 Vote, Reprimands Gingrich, New York Times (January 22, 1997).
19. Carl Hulse (September 16, 2009). "House Rebukes Wilson for Shouting 'You Lie'". New York Times.
20. H.Res.744 - Raising a question of the privileges of the House, 111th Congress (September 15, 2009).
21. John H. Cushman Jr., Democrat Reprimanded for Misusing Staff in Race, New York Times (August 1, 2012).
22. John Breshnahan, House reprimands Richardson (August 2, 2012).
23. "Rep. Schweikert sanctioned in rare action on House floor". Roll Call. 2020-07-31. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
24. "1967 Year In Review, UPI.com"