[Deschler's Precedents]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID:52093c12_txt-4]
[Page 1703-1705]
CHAPTER 12
Conduct or Discipline of Members, Officers, or Employees
A. INTRODUCTORY; PARTICULAR KINDS OF MISCONDUCT
Sec. 3. Violations of Statutes
The Constitution provides that a Member is to be privileged from
arrest during sessions except for ``Treason, Felony, and Breach of the
Peace.'' (12) However, with respect to the application of
criminal statutes, the Members of Congress, unless immunized by the
Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution,(13) are subject
to the same penalties under the criminal laws as are all
citizens.(14) Indeed, the Members are specifically or
impliedly referred to in a number of penal statutes, the enforcement of
which rests in the executive and judicial branches. The statutes below
are cited by way of example:
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12. U.S. Const. art. I, Sec. 6. Generally see Ch. 7, supra.
13. U.S. Const. art. I, Sec. 6, clause 1. See U.S. v Brewster, 408 U.S.
501 (1972); Gravel v U.S., 408 U.S. 606 (1972); Powell v
McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969); U.S. v Johnson, 383 U.S. 169
(1966); Doe v McMillan, 412 U.S. 306 (1973). See Ch. 7, supra,
for immunities generally.
14. See U.S. v Johnson, 337 F2d 180 (C.A. Md., 1964), affirmed 383 U.S.
169, certiorari denied, 385 U.S. 846.
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2 USC Sec. 441--Failure to file federal campaign financing
reports.
18 USC Sec. 201(c)--Soliciting or receiving a bribe.
18 USC Sec. 201(g)--Soliciting or receiving anything of value
for or because of any official act performed or to be performed.
18 USC Sec. 203(a)--Soliciting or receiving any outside
compensation for particular services.
18 USC Sec. 204--Practice in the Court of Claims.
18 USC Sec. 211--Acceptance or solicitation of anything of
value for promising to obtain appointive public office for any
person.
18 USC Sec. 287--False, fictitious, or fraudulent claims
against the United States.
18 USC Sec. 371--Conspiracy to commit an offense against the
United States.
18 USC Sec. Sec. 431, 433--Prohibits contracts with the
government by Members of Congress, with certain exceptions.
18 USC Sec. 599--Promise of appointment to office by a
candidate.
18 USC Sec. 600--Promise of employment or other benefit for
political activity.
18 USC Sec. 601--Deprivation of employment or other benefit for
political activity.
18 USC Sec. 602--Solicitation of political contributions from
U.S. officers or employees, or persons receiving salary
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or compensation for services from money derived from the U.S.
Treasury.
18 USC Sec. 612--Publication or distribution of political
statements without names of persons and organizations responsible
for same.
18 USC Sec. 613--Solicitation of political contributions from
foreign nationals.
18 USC Sec. 1001--False or fraudulent statements or entries in
any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of
the U.S.
31 USC Sec. 231--Liability of persons making false claims
against the government.
The statutes cited above are also expressly or by implication
applicable in many instances to the officers and employees of the
House. Again, the enforcement thereof is not left to internal means in
either House (although each House could impose internal sanctions), but
rests in the executive and judicial branches.
The House rules authorize the Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct to report to the appropriate federal or state authorities, with
approval of the House, any substantial evidence of a violation of an
applicable law by a Member, officer, or employee of the House, which
may have been disclosed in a committee investigation.(15)
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15. Rule XI clause 19(e), House Rules and Manual Sec. 720
(1973). -------------------
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Criminal Conduct; Privilege From Arrest
Sec. 3.1 The privilege of the Member from arrest does not apply to
situations where the Member himself is charged with a crime
referred to in the Constitution.
The United States Supreme Court,(16) in construing
article I, section 6, clause 1, ``they [the Senators and
Representatives] shall in all cases except treason, felony, and breach
of the peace, be privileged from arrest . . .'' has declared that the
terms of the provision exclude from the operation of the privilege all
criminal offenses. Thus, it may be concluded that the privilege only
applies in the case of civil arrest.(17)
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16. See Williamson v United States, 207 U.S. 425 (1908).
17. See Long v Ansell, 293 U.S. 76 (1934).
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See also the proceedings on Nov. 17, 1941,(18) wherein
Mr. Hatton W. Sumners, of Texas, in discussing a resolution granting
permission of the House to a Member to appear before a grand jury in
response to a summons, referred to the power of the House to refuse to
yield to a court summons ``except as the Constitution
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18. 87 Cong. Rec. 8956, 77th Cong. 1st Sess.
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provided with reference to crimes.''
Similarly, in earlier remarks, Mr. Sumners had stated:
It is important that the House of Representatives control the
matter of the attendance of Members of the House upon the business
of the House. It ought not to control, of course, when the Member
commits a crime, and it has no power to control.(l9)
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19. Id. at p. 8954.
See also H. Rept. No. 30, 45th Cong. 2d Sess., 1878 (House
Committee on the Judiciary), and 3 Hinds' Precedents Sec. 2673,
as to whether there had been any invasion of the rights and
privileges of the House in the alleged arrest and imprisonment
of Representative Robert Smalls (S.C.). The report concluded:
``Upon principle, therefore, as well as in view of the
precedents, your committee are clearly of the opinion that the
arrest of Mr. Smalls, upon the charge (of having accepted a
bribe while a state officer of South Carolina) and under the
circumstances hereinbefore set forth, was in no sense an
invasion of any of the rights or privileges of the House of
Representatives; and that, so far as any supposed breach of
privilege is concerned, his detention by the authorities of
South Carolina for an alleged violation of the criminal law of
that State was legal and justifiable; and having arrived at
that conclusion they have deemed it not only unnecessary but
improper for them to make any suggestion here as to what course
the House should have pursued had the arrest been a violation
of its privileges.''
See Ch. 7, supra, on arrest and immunity of Members.
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