[Niteranger68]

Talk about an abuse of your power. If any SANE Republican Senator is reading this thread, please consider removing Senator Specter from his position of power. PLEASE!

I couldn't agree more. In the process of losing his marbles, he has become our Robert Byrd. A bitter old fart. I don't care why his mind is not functioning properly. I just want him out of the power loop. He is not fit for duty.

[Eagle of Liberty]

I would like to see one of the following Senate procedures happen:

Expulsion (see below for Censure cases)

Article I, Section 5, of the United States Constitution provides that "Each House [of Congress] may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member."

Since 1789, the Senate has expelled only fifteen of its entire membership. Of that number, fourteen were charged with support of the Confederacy during the Civil War. In several other cases, the Senate considered expulsion proceedings but either found the member not guilty or failed to act before the member left office. In those cases, corruption was the primary cause of complaint.

In the entire course of the Senate's history, only four members have been convicted of crimes. They were: Joseph R. Burton (1905), John Hipple Mitchell (1905), Truman H. Newberry (1920), and Harrison Williams (1981). Newberry's conviction was later overturned. Mitchell died. Burton, Newberry, and Williams resigned before the Senate could act on their expulsion.

Censure

A less severe form of discipline used by the Senate against its members is censure (sometimes referred to as condemnation or denouncement). A censure does not remove a senator from office. It is a formal statement of disapproval, however, that can have a powerful psychological effect on a member and his/her relationships in the Senate. Since 1789 the Senate has censured nine of its members.