House Members Convicted Of A Felony May Stay In Congress

‘Members of Congress do not automatically forfeit their offices upon conviction of a crime that constitutes afelony,’ states the congressional report. House Members Convicted Of A Felony May Stay In Congress, Says Gov’t ReportBy Cliff Montgomery – Nov. 15th, 2007An October 5th, 2007 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report stated a rather interesting fact: “Members of Congress do not automatically forfeit their offices upon conviction of a crime that constitutes a felony.”Democrats scored convincing wins of both congressional houses last year, partly under the promise to “clean up Washington politics.” They did pass a bill which gave the House Ethics Committee more power to open an investigation on a House member who “has been indicted or otherwise charged with criminal conduct in any state or federal court.” But somehow they and their Republican colleagues have failed to fix this most glaring failure of congressional oversight.It should be noted here that CRS reports are only made available to members of Congress–direct public access to these unclassified reports is denied. But has obtained a copy for its readers, which you may read in full here.Below we quote the entire report summary of this shocking oversight failure in House rules; we have highlighted the segment which states that House members may keep their seats, even if they are convicted of a felony.The summary briskly describes the problem and what it means to American voter representation:  “There are no federal statutes or Rules of the House of Representatives that directly affect the status of a Member of Congress who has been indicted for a crime that constitutes a felony. No rights or privileges are forfeited under the Constitution, statutory law, or the Rules of the House merely upon an indictment for an offense, prior to an establishment of guilt under the judicial system.”Thus, under House Rules, an indicted Member may continue to participate in congressional proceedings and considerations; under the Constitution, a person under indictment is not disqualified from being a Member of or a candidate for re-election to Congress.”Internal party rules in the House, however, require an indicted chairman or ranking Member of a House committee, or a member of the House party leadership, to temporarily step aside from his or her leadership or chairmanship position.”Additionally, a recent change in the Rules of the House requires the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, generally known as the House ‘Ethics Committee,’ to either initiate an inquiry by an investigative subcommittee of that Committee within 30 days of the time any Member of the House has been indicted or otherwise charged with criminal conduct in any state or federal court, or to report to the House the Committee’s reasons for not moving forward.“Members of Congress do not automatically forfeit their offices upon conviction of a crime that constitutes a felony. No express constitutional disability or ‘disqualification’ from Congress exists for the conviction of a crime, other than under the Fourteenth Amendment for certain treasonous conduct by someone who has taken an oath of office to support the Constitution.“Members of the House are, however, instructed by House Rules not to vote in committee or on the House floor once they have been convicted of a crime for which the punishment may be two or more years imprisonment.”Furthermore, under party rules, Members may lose their chairmanships of committees or ranking member status upon conviction of a felony.”Conviction of certain crimes may subject — and has subjected in the past — Members of the House to internal legislative disciplinary proceedings, including resolutions of reprimand and censure, as well as expulsion from the House upon approval of two-thirds of the Members.”Conviction of certain crimes relating to national security offenses would result in the Member’s forfeiture of his or her entire federal pension annuity under the provisions of the so-called ‘Hiss Act’ and, under more recent provisions of law, conviction of particular crimes by Members relating to public corruption will result in the loss of the Member’s entire ‘creditable service’ as a Member for purposes of calculating their federal retirement annuities.”Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!