[Deschler's Precedents]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID:52093c12_txt-19]
[Page 1754-1756]
CHAPTER 12
Conduct or Discipline of Members, Officers, or Employees
B. NATURE AND FORMS OF DISCIPLINARY MEASURES
Sec. 18. Deprivation of Seniority Status
Under the U.S. Constitution, the House is authorized to deprive a
Member of his seniority status as a form of disciplinary
action.(4)
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4. See Sec. 18.2, infra.
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Procedure
Sec. 18.1 A Member may be reduced in committee seniority as a result of
party discipline enforced through the machinery of his party--the
caucus and the Committee on Committees.
Parliamentarian's Note: In 1965, two Democratic Members who had
refused to support the Presidential candidate of their party were
reduced in committee seniority as the result of party discipline
enforced through the machinery of the party-the caucus and the
Committee on Committees.(5)
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5. One Member (Albert Watson [S.C.]) resigned from the House, 111
Cong. Rec. 805, 806, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 15, 1965, and
was then re-elected as a member of the other political party in
a special election called to fill the vacancy. The other (John
B. Williams [Miss.]) was voted to the bottom of two committees,
111 Cong. Rec. 809, 89th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 15, 1965.
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As a matter of party disciplinary policy, the Democratic Caucus
instructed the Committee on Committees to assign the ``last position''
on a committee to a particular Member. But other Members subsequently
elected to the same committee were junior to him in committee
seniority.(6)
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6. See 112 Cong. Rec. 27486, 89th Cong. 2d Sess., Oct. 18, 1966,
wherein committee member John Bell Williams (Miss.) was advised
that a newly elected Member would rank below Mr. Williams in
seniority.
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In 1967, the Democratic Committee on Committees reported to the
House a resolution leaving vacancies on certain standing committees
pending further consideration by the caucus of committee assignments
and seniority thereon of a Member who had, in the preceding Congress,
been stripped of his committee seniority (at the direction of the
caucus) and assigned to the last position on the committees, and who
had asked that he not be assigned to any committee pending a final
determination by the caucus.(7)
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7. 113 Cong. Rec. 1086, 90th Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 23, 1967, relating
to the assignment of committee positions of John Bell Williams
(Miss.).
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Deprivation of Seniority Status For Acts Committed in Prior Congress
Sec. 18.2 Deprivation of seniority status is a form of disciplinary
action that may be invoked by the House against a Member, pursuant
to a committee's recommendation, under article I, section 5, clause
2 of the U.S. Constitution, for acts committed in a prior Congress.
In the 90th Congress, a committee of the House recommended that a
Member-elect, Adam Clayton Powell, of New York, be deprived of his
seniority status and subjected to certain other penalties for his
conduct in a prior Congress.(8)
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8. See H. Rept. No. 90-27, 90th Cong. 1st Sess. (1967), ``In Re Adam
Clayton Powell, Report of Select Committee Pursuant to H. Res.
1,'' p. 33; see also H. Res. 278, 90th Cong. 1st Sess., 113
Cong. Rec. 4997, Mar. 1, 1967. The motion for the previous
question on this resolution containing the select committee
recommendation was defeated (113 Cong. Rec. 5020, Mar. 1,
1967), and a substitute amendment excluding the Member-elect
was proposed and adopted (113 Cong. Rec. 5037, 5038, Mar. 1,
1967). See Sec. 14.1, supra.
The recommendation of the select committee was
characterized by a Member: ``Never before has any Member of the
Congress been stripped of his seniority in the course of
(punishment) proceedings.'' 113 Cong. Rec. 5006, Mar. 1, 1967,
remarks by Representative John Conyers, Jr. (Mich.).
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In the 91st Congress, the House agreed to a resolution which, among
other things, reduced the seniority of Mr. Powell to that of first-term
Congressman (thus eliminating consideration of any prior service in the
computation of seniority).(9)
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9. 9. 115 Cong. Rec. 29, 34, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 3, 1969 [H.
Res. 2]. r. Powell had been excluded by the House in the 90th
Congress, but had been reelected to the 91st Congress. The
resolution [H. Res. 2] also provided for a fine of $25,000
against Mr. Powell to be deducted on a monthly basis from his
salary, and specified that Mr. Powell had to take the oath
before Jan. 15, 1969, or his seat would be declared vacant.
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