Press Releases

Washington, D.C. - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) delivered the following opening remarks during a Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hearing on "The Constitutional Framework for Congress's Ability to Uphold Standards of Member Conduct": 

"Today’s hearing on the nature and scope of Congress’s authority to discipline its membership is an important one. It is also not the first time the Judiciary Committee has examined Congress’s authority in this area. 

"At least as far back as 1914, when the Committee produced a report on this matter in relation to a select committee investigation into an alleged bribery scheme, the Committee has served to inform Members and the public about the constitutional underpinnings of the House’s disciplinary authority over its membership.  

"Just like today, Members then considered the scope of Congress’s disciplinary authority, and without a doubt, our witnesses will note that this has been a perennial institutional debate since our nation’s founding. 

"One broad principle that Members and witnesses likely agree on, though, is that Congress’s authority to discipline its membership is very broad.

"Under Article I, Section 5, Clause 2, each House of Congress can discipline one of its members for 'disorderly Behaviour,' a term that the Constitution leaves undefined.  Indeed, the only explicit textual limitation on this power is a procedural requirement that any expulsion of a sitting Member requires a two-thirds vote of the chamber.

"Under that same provision, each House has the power to make rules to govern its own proceedings, and thus, each has the authority to devise disciplinary measures short of expulsion—such as censure or the levying of fines.

"Another likely area of agreement is that this broad authority is not understood solely as the mere power to punish individuals for misconduct.  It is also a basis for protecting and ensuring the dignity, integrity, and legitimacy of Congressional proceedings.

"Simply put, the Constitution provides each House of Congress the authority to hold members accountable for misconduct so that each has the means to protect the public’s faith and esteem in this institution.

"This authority is the basis for each House to ensure the continued functioning of its proceedings, particularly under the gravest national circumstances. There have only been five expulsions in the history of the House of Representatives, with three of them occurring in 1861 at the onset of the Civil War.

"Given how central this authority is to the operation of Congress as a coordinate branch, the Supreme Court—with only a few notable exceptions—has largely left it to Congress to determine the constitutional limits of its authority to discipline its membership.

"Thus like other constitutional matters vested solely within Congress’s purview, past precedent and historical practice have played a large role in shaping each chamber’s understanding of the limits of its authority, informed each chamber’s exercise of that authority, and contributed to the evolution of modern disciplinary practices.

"Today’s hearing is an opportunity for Members to hear from and ask questions of a panel of excellent witnesses who can educate us on the constitutional origins and limitations on Congress’s authority to discipline Members, and what general policy principles may have evolved regarding the House of Representatives’ exercise of that authority over the past two centuries.

"Distinct from these questions regarding constitutional authority and policy is the question of how the House should exercise its power in individual cases, theoretical or otherwise.  But that is not the subject of today’s hearing.

"As Chairman Cohen explained, we are here today to discuss and understand the constitutional principles and historical precedents that inform the House’s disciplinary authority and policies.  We are not here to apply them to any individual or circumstance.

"I thank the witnesses for appearing today and I look forward to their testimony.   I yield back the balance of my time."