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 six members of the House have been expelled in its history. Three of those six were expelled in 1861 for joining the Confederate States of America.[2]
There are also less severe measures with which the House is authorized 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.
| Year | Representative | Party | State | Vote count | class=unsortable | Reason | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1861 | Democratic | Missouri | 94–45 | Supporting Confederate rebellion.[3] | |||
| Kentucky | |||||||
| 1980 | Pennsylvania | 376–30 | Convicted of bribery in the Abscam scandal.[4] | ||||
| 2002 | Ohio | 420–1 (with 9 "present")[5] | Convicted on ten counts including bribery, conspiracy to defraud the United States, corruption, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, and racketeering.[6] | ||||
| 2023 | Republican | New York | 311–114 (with 2 "present") | Findings of fraud and misuse of campaign funds by the House Ethics Committee.[7] | |||
| Year | Representative | Party | State | Vote count | class=unsortable | Reason | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1832 | National Republican | Ohio | 93–44[8] | Insulting the Speaker of the House. | |||
| 1842 | Whig | Ohio | 125–69 | Introducing an anti-slavery resolution deemed to be incendiary, and violation of the gag rule prohibiting discussion of slavery. | |||
| 1856 | Democratic | South Carolina | 106–96 | Assisting in the caning of Charles Sumner. | |||
| 1864 | Democratic | Maryland | 98–20 | Making statements in support of the Confederate rebellion. | |||
| Democratic | Ohio | 80–70 | |||||
| 1866 | Democratic | New York | 72–30 | Insulting the House with a resolution containing unparliamentary language. | |||
| 1866 | Unconditional Unionist | Kentucky | 89–30 | Assaulting Rep. Josiah Grinnell on the floor of the House. | |||
| 1867 | Democratic | New York | 77–33 | Using unparliamentary language. | |||
| 1868 | Democratic | New York | 114–39 | Using unparliamentary language. | |||
| 1869 | Democratic | Idaho Territory | Using unparliamentary language. | ||||
| 1870 | Republican | South Carolina | 187–0 | Selling military academy appointments. | |||
| Republican | North Carolina | 170–0 | |||||
| Republican | Tennessee | 158–0 | |||||
| 1873 | Republican | Massachusetts | 182–36 | Involvement in the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal. | |||
| Democratic | New York | 174–32 | |||||
| 1875 | Democratic | Kentucky | 161–79 | Using unparliamentary language. | |||
| 1890 | Democratic | Indiana | 126–104 | Using unparliamentary language. | |||
| 1921 | Democratic | Texas | 293–0 | Using unparliamentary language. | |||
| 1979 | Democratic | Michigan | 414–0 | Payroll fraud and mail fraud. | |||
| 1979 | Democratic | Pennsylvania | Bribery | ||||
| 1980 | Democratic | California | voice vote | Improper use of campaign funds. | |||
| 1983 | Republican | Illinois | 420–3 | Engaging in sexual conduct with a House page. | |||
| Democratic | Massachusetts | 421–3 | |||||
| 2010 | Democratic | New York | 333–79 | Improper solicitation of funds, making inaccurate financial disclosure statements, and failure to pay taxes. | |||
| 2021 | Republican | Arizona | 223–207 (with 1 "present") | Posted an anime video on social media depicting himself committing violence against Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Joe Biden.[9] [10] | |||
| 2023 | Democratic | California | 213–209 (with 6 "present") | Making allegations regarding Russian collusion in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the first impeachment of Donald Trump.[11] [12] | |||
| 2023 | Democratic | Michigan | 234–188 (with 4 "present") | Comments related to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.[13] | |||
| 2023 | Democratic | New York | 214–191 (with 5 "present") | Pulling the fire alarm in one of the Capitol office buildings under non-emergency circumstances.[14] | |||
| Year | Representative | Party | State | Vote count | class=unsortable | Reason | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Democratic | Florida | 381–3 (with 5 "present") | Use of office for personal gain.[15] | |||
| 1978 | Democratic | California | 328–41 (with 29 "present") | Role in South Korean influence-buying scandal.[16] [17] | |||
| 1978 | Democratic | California | Voice vote | Role in South Korean influence-buying scandal.[18] | |||
| 1978 | Democratic | California | Voice vote | Role in South Korean influence-buying scandal. | |||
| 1984 | Republican | Idaho | 354–52 (with 6 "present") | False statements on a financial disclosure form.[19] | |||
| 1987 | Democratic | Pennsylvania | 324–68 (with 20 "present") | Allowed another person to cast his vote, and misused House funds.[20] | |||
| 1990 | 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.[21] | |||
| 1995 | 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.[22] | |||
| 1997 | Republican | Georgia | 395–28 | Use of a tax-exempt organization for political purposes, and providing false information to the House Ethics Committee.[23] | |||
| 2009 | Republican | South Carolina | 240–179 (with 5 "present") | Making an outburst towards President Barack Obama during a speech to a joint session of Congress.[24] [25] | |||
| 2012 | Democratic | California | Voice vote | Compelling her congressional office staff to work for her 2010 election campaign and perform personal errands; also fined $10,000.[26] [27] | |||
| 2020 | Republican | Arizona | Voice vote | Permitting his office to misuse taxpayer funds and various violations of campaign finance reporting requirements, federal law and House rules.[28] | |||
| 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.[29] Powell was reelected to the seat for one more term. This exclusion led to a Supreme Court case which held that the exclusion was unconstitutional and that Congress can only exclude members who do not met the minimum constitutional qualifications for membership. | |
Federal politicians:
State and local politics: