The House voted Wednesday to censure Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.), the 24th time it has meted out such a punishment since 1832. Censure is one of three options the U.S. House has instituted for disciplining its members, along with the more severe expulsion and the less harsh reprimand. Here’s what you need to know about how censure works.
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Why was Gosar censured?
Gosar was censured because he tweeted an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and swinging swords at President Biden, imagery that Democrats say promotes violence. The tweet came amid growing worries that violent political rhetoric is spreading after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
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The 90-second video, which Gosar had removed from Twitter after an outcry erupted, appeared to be an altered version of the opening credits of a Japanese anime series, “Attack on Titan.” In one scene, Ocasio-Cortez’s face was edited over a character that is violently killed by a character with Gosar’s face. In another scene, Gosar swings two swords at a character whose face has been replaced by Biden’s.
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In remarks on the House floor ahead of the censure vote, Gosar refused to apologize and said he was the victim of a “false narrative” that the video was “dangerous or threatening.” Other Republicans likened it to a cartoon and said Democrats were overreacting.
What actually happens when a member is censured?
When the House votes to censure one of its members, the member has to stand in the well of the House and listen to the House speaker read aloud the censure resolution. The move is, in a way, a form of public humiliation, meant to scold a member for their behavior and put it in the public record. Gosar also was stripped of his two committee assignments as a separate punishment.
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Censure, which is defined in Sections 22 and 23 of the House’s rules, is often reserved for “more serious violations” of House behavior codes in situations when a member’s actions aren’t severe enough to merit expulsion from the House.
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As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) read Gosar his censure resolution on Wednesday, at least a dozen Republicans surrounded him in the well.
Does party affiliation affect how members might vote?
Censure votes require a simple majority of the House. Because Democrats control the chamber 221 to 213, the vote to censure Gosar fell mostly along party lines. Only two Republicans — Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) — voted with the Democrats in censuring Gosar on a 223-to-207 vote. Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) voted “present.” A member of the House Ethics Committee, Joyce said he couldn’t vote “yes” or “no” because his committee might have to review Gosar’s actions.
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Censuring a House member, however, has not historically been this partisan. The last time a lawmaker was censured was in 2010, when Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) received a public scolding — also from Pelosi — for 11 ethics violations, including the misuse of congressional letterhead for fundraising and inaccurate financial reports and federal tax returns. Back then, the chamber voted overwhelmingly to censure Rangel, 333 to 79. Seventy-seven Democrats and two Republicans voted against the censure. And while Democrats close to Rangel had tried to downgrade the censure to a reprimand, other Democrats and Republicans rebuked that effort. A reprimand is a less severe form of punishment that, according to House rules, is “somewhat less punitive” because it does not require that the offending member be scolded before the House. Still, it registers the House’s disapproval of a member’s conduct.
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Unlike Gosar, Rangel apologized to his colleagues for putting them in that “awkward” position. Rangel went on to serve until 2017, when he retired.
Who are the two Republicans who broke with their party?
The two Republicans who voted for Gosar’s censuring, Cheney and Kinzinger, have stood in defiance of their House Republican colleagues for most of the year after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Cheney and Kinzinger, both members of the House’s special committee investigating the attack, have long warned about the rise of violent political rhetoric within the GOP. The two also voted to impeach former president Donald Trump on charges that he incited the insurrection.
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“The glorification of the suggestion of the killing of a colleague is completely unacceptable, and I think that it’s a clear violation of House rules,” Cheney told reporters as she left the House floor after the vote, according to CNN. “I think it’s a sad day.”
Does a censure mean the member is stripped of committee assignments?
There is no specific House rule dictating what happens after the speaker reads the offending member their censure resolution. However, the parties have, of late, attached the stripping of committee assignments to the punishment.
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Gosar is not the first Republican lawmaker stripped of his committee assignments this year. In February, the House voted 230 to 199 to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from her committees for her extremist comments and embrace of violence against Democrats. Greene, however, wasn’t censured by the House.
Are any other actions taken?
No other actions are required after the speaker reads the offending member their censure resolution.
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In previous censures, the offending member has addressed their colleagues in the chamber to apologize for their actions, as was the 1983 case of Rep. Gerry E. Studds (D-Mass.) and Rep. Daniel B. Crane (R-Ill.), who were censured for separate cases of sexual misconduct with a House page in a 421-to-3 vote. Crane, who admitted having sex with a 17-year-old female page in 1980, apologized to the House for “the shame I have brought down on this institution.” Studds, who also admitted having sex with a 17-year-old male page, did not speak during the debate on his censure but told the House that his relationship with the page was “a very serious error in judgment.”
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Gosar has, so far, not shown any remorse for tweeting the violent video.
The House Committee on Ethics could theoretically launch an investigation into Gosar’s posting of the video.
Have other members of Congress been censured?
Gosar is the 24th House member to be censured since 1832. In the Senate, nine members have been censured since 1811.
House members have historically been censured for insulting or assaulting other members, as well as for financial improprieties. During the Civil War, some House members were censured for sympathizing with the Confederacy.
Rangel’s was the most recent case of censure in the House until this week.
Can a censured member run for office again?
Yes.