Private: CRS Provides Background on Censure

Senator Russ Feingold on Sunday suggested censuring President Bush. Although the language has not yet been released, Senator Feingold broadly suggested two censure resolutions: the first "condemn[ing] the President and others for misconduct relating to the war in Iraq" and the second "focus[ing] on the administration’s attack on the rule of law." According to the AP, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has demurred from endorsing the idea.

A 1998 CRS Report entitled Censure of the President by Congress provides some background on how censure works.

Although there is no express constitutional provision regarding censure of an executive officer, there is also no express constitutional impediment for the Congress, or either House of Congress, to adopt a resolution expressing its opinion, reproval, disapprobation, or censure of an individual in the Government, or of the conduct of the individual, and, in fact, each House of Congress has on infrequent occasions adopted such resolutions in the past.

There have been occasional "censures" of executive officials, including the Senate's censure of President Jackson in 1834 (later expunged) and the House of Representative's censure of President Buchanan in 1860. Additional resolutions of disapproval or censure have been introduced or debated over time, including one of John Adams in 1800, James Buchanan in 1862, and Richard Nixon in 1974.

A search of Library of Congress records indicates that the introduction of resolutions censuring Presidents in the modern era is not without precedent. Over the years three resolutions have been introduced to censure President George W. Bush and four resolutions were introduced to censure President William Jefferson Clinton. The 109th Congress' Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in March 2006 entitled "An Examination of the Call to Censure the President," which examined the issue from various points of view.

According to the CRS Report:

Resolutions disapproving of conduct or censuring the President or other executive official, like similar "sense of the Congress" resolutions, or sense of the House or Senate resolutions, would have no particular legal or constitutional consequence, but may have political and/or historical import.