Four members of the House of Representatives could soon see themselves kicked out of Congress due to serious ethics violations.
by Boris Nusinzon
Editor in Chief
Multiple members of the House of Representatives accused of serious misconduct could see themselves rapidly and summarily fired from their jobs by their colleagues. Congressional expulsion can occur when the Ethics Committee discovers serious misconduct unbecoming of a member of the House through an investigation (with a somewhat similar process in the Senate). If an investigatory subcommittee does recommend the process of expulsion, then a full House vote is conducted in which two-thirds of members must concur (as laid out in the Constitution). Essentially, it is a more immediate punishment to a member of Congress that does not carry the direct legal implications that would occur as a result of an investigation and trial in a court of law.
Only six House members have ever been expelled, and three of them were kicked out for supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War. The most recent expulsion of George Santos in 2023 made national headlines, as he was found to have committed widespread lying (including identity theft) and fraud, later convicted and sentenced to prison. He was the first member expelled who had not committed a crime or supported the Confederacy; we may soon see four more members joining this list, though, with another recent scandal having caused changes in attitudes on Capitol Hill. The San Francisco Chronicle broke the news in early April that Eric Swalwell, a leading candidate in the California gubernatorial race had sexually assaulted an ex-staffer. These were followed by CNN reports from three more women who had previously kept silent; these damaging allegations led to his fellow politicians dropping their endorsements for him en masse, and then him choosing to suspend his campaign for Governor of California.
In light of this, news was recently broken by Axios that up to four House members could get expelled. Axios reported that the “scandal surrounding Rep. Eric Swalwell… could jolt a surge of expulsion votes for at least three of his House colleagues as soon as the chamber returns from recess next week.” The article added that “Lawmakers in both parties are exasperated with recent ethics and sex scandals, and some are privately entertaining the catharsis of a proverbial bloodletting.” As a whole, members of Congress are frustrated with ethics scandals resulting in no punishment, and calls to resign for these four members have been mounting. Other than Swalwell, there is Tony Gonzales, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a staffer who later died by suicide; Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who the Ethics Committee found guilty of numerous violations, including funneling “$5 million in Covid relief funds to her congressional campaign”: and Cory Mills, under investigation for allegations including “financial misconduct, campaign finance violations and sexual misconduct.”
It is quite possible that all four could legitimately be expelled, particularly because two are Democrats and two are Republicans. This creates less of a concern on either side of the aisle for skewing the balance of the chamber ahead of the midterms, and many Democrats feel that they have a moral obligation to expel colleagues of theirs who commit ethics violations. One House Democrat commented that “”We aren’t credible messengers against the administration when we hide behind rhetorical condemnation and perpetual process excuses.” The next few weeks will be telling as to whether some or all four of these members are fired from the House.
