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The United States Constitution gives the Senate the power to expel any member by a two-thirds vote. This is distinct from the impeachment power the Senate has over executive and judicial federal officials. The Supreme Court determined in 1797 that Senators could not be impeached, but only expelled.
Expulsion is an extremely rare event. It has not actually occurred since the Civil War, although this is partly because many members resign rather than face a formal proceeding when expulsion appears possible. Censure, a lesser punishment which represents a formal statement of disapproval, has been more common in the last century. Although censure carries no formal punishment, only one Senator (Benjamin R. Tillman) of the nine to be censured has ever been re-elected.

Contents

Expelled senators

Expulsion proceedings not resulting in expulsion

Censured senators

Sources

Expelled senators

Year	Senator	Party	State	Details
1797	William Blount	Democratic-Republican	Tennessee	Expelled for treason and conspiracy to incite the Creek and Cherokee Indians to assist Great Britain in invading Spanish Florida.
1861	James M. Mason	Democratic	Virginia	Expelled for supporting Confederate rebellion.
	Robert M.T. Hunter	Democratic
	Thomas L. Clingman	Democratic	North Carolina
	Thomas Bragg	Democratic
	James Chesnut, Jr.	Democratic	South Carolina
	Alfred O.P. Nicholson	Democratic	Tennessee
	William K. Sebastian	Democratic	Arkansas	Expelled for supporting Confederate rebellion. His expulsion was posthumously reversed in 1877.
	Charles B. Mitchel	Democratic		Expelled for supporting Confederate rebellion.
	John Hemphill	Democratic	Texas
	Louis T. 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, presumably because the Senator felt that the proceedings would succeed or that his political career would not survive them regardless. In a few cases, the proceedings ended when a Senator died or his term expired.

Year	Senator	Party	State	Result	Details
1808	John Smith	Democrat-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 Confederacy
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 and 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, Sr.	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 H. Newberry	Republican	Michigan	Resigned	Convicted of election fraud, but 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	Investigated for election fraud
1934	Huey P. Long	Democratic	Louisiana	Not expelled	Investigated for election fraud
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 for bribery and conspiracy in the Abscam scandal; resigned before a vote by the full Senate
1995	Robert W. Packwood	Republican	Oregon	Resigned	Charged with sexual misconduct and abuse of power; resigned before a 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	Releasing 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 R. Tillman	Democratic	South Carolina	Fighting on the Senate floor with John L. McLaurin.
	John L. McLaurin			Fighting on the Senate floor with Benjamin R. Tillman.
1929	Hiram Bingham	Republican	Connecticut	Employing as a Senate staff member Charles Eyanson, who was simultaneously employed by the Manufacturers Association of Connecticut.
1954	Joseph R. McCarthy	Republican	Wisconsin	Abuse and non-cooperation with the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections during a 1952 investigation of his conduct; for abuse 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. Conduct unbecoming a senator.
1979	Herman E. Talmadge	Democratic	Georgia	Improper financial conduct, accepting reimbursements for official expenses not incurred, and improper reporting of campaign receipts and expenditures.
1990	David Durenberger	Republican	Minnesota	Unethical conduct relating to reimbursement of Senate expenses and acceptance of outside payments and gifts.

Sources

★ Expulsion and Censure