Censure and Expulsion

Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution allows each chamber to punish its members for disorderly behavior and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. The framers gave Congress this power so that each chamber could protect its integrity without depending on the other branches. Lesser punishments, which require only a majority vote, include censure, a formal statement of condemnation that in the House requires the member to stand in the well while the resolution is read, and reprimand, a milder rebuke. Members may also be fined, lose committee assignments, or be suspended from leadership roles by their party.

Expulsion is rare. The Senate has expelled 15 members, one in 1797 for conspiring to aid a British plot and 14 for supporting the Confederacy in 1861 and 1862. The House has expelled six, three for joining the Confederacy in 1861, one after a bribery conviction in 1980, one after a conviction for corruption in 2002, and one in December 2023 after an ethics investigation, the first expelled without a criminal conviction or Confederate ties. Many other members facing likely expulsion have resigned first.

Censure was once reserved for serious misconduct, as when the Senate censured Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954. The Senate has censured nine members in its history, while the House has censured more than two dozen, and House censures have become far more frequent and partisan since 2021, with several members censured in each recent Congress for speech or conduct the majority found objectionable, including one in March 2025. Supporters say discipline upholds standards of conduct, while critics say frequent party-line censures cheapen the sanction and turn it into a political weapon.