List of United States senators expelled or censured

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.

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[3]
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:

• List of American state and local politicians convicted of crimes

References

1. Brockell, Gillian (January 5, 2021). "The senators who were expelled after refusing to accept Lincoln's election". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
2. "Senate historical minutes". U.S. Senate. Archived from the original on November 17, 2002. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
3. "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.