[Deschler's Precedents, Volume 3, Chapters 10 - 14]
[Chapter 12. Conduct or Discipline of Members, Officers, or Employees]
[A. Introductory; Particular Kinds of Misconduct]
[Â§ 3. Violations of Statutes]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[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

[[Page 1704]]

    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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[[Page 1705]]

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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