James Traficant was expelled from Congress on July 24, 2002, when the House of Representatives voted 420 to 1 to remove him after a federal jury convicted the nine-term Ohio Democrat on ten felony counts of racketeering, bribery, tax evasion, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. He became only the fifth member in House history ever expelled by his colleagues, and only the second since the Civil War.
The Convictions That Triggered Expulsion
A federal grand jury in Cleveland indicted Traficant on May 4, 2001. Prosecutors argued he ran his congressional office as a personal enterprise. A former staff lawyer testified that Traficant demanded half of the lawyer’s $60,000 salary as a condition of employment, paying $2,500 in cash each month directly to the congressman. Other evidence showed Traficant pressured business owners into performing favors and funneling money his way.
Traficant represented himself at trial. After two months of proceedings in federal court in Ohio, the jury convicted him on all ten counts on April 12, 2002.1FindLaw. United States v. Traficant The court sentenced him to eight years in federal prison, ordered him to pay $19,580 in unpaid federal income taxes, and required him to forfeit $96,000 the jury determined to be illegally obtained income. He was also ordered to pay the cost of his own imprisonment at $1,840 per month, capped at $150,000.
The convictions were the trigger, but they did not automatically remove him from office. That took a separate decision by the House itself.
Where the House Gets the Power to Expel
Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution gives each chamber of Congress the authority to “punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.”2Congress.gov. Article 1 Section 5 Clause 2 The two-thirds threshold is deliberately high. Expulsion cannot happen on a party-line vote or a passing political grudge. A supermajority of the entire chamber has to agree that the conduct is serious enough to override the judgment of the voters who elected the member.
The power is also independent of the courts. A member doesn’t need to be convicted of a crime to be expelled, and a criminal conviction doesn’t force the House to act. The House makes its own judgment, applying its own standards. Historically it has reserved that judgment for two kinds of conduct: disloyalty to the United States, and criminal abuse of official power such as bribery.3Congress.gov. Expulsion, Censure, Reprimand, and Fine in the House of Representatives Traficant’s conduct fell squarely into the second category.
The Ethics Committee Investigation
After the guilty verdict, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct opened its own inquiry rather than treat the jury’s verdict as the final word. It held public hearings, reviewed the trial evidence, and measured Traficant’s conduct against the House’s Code of Official Conduct.1FindLaw. United States v. Traficant
An investigative subcommittee filed a Statement of Alleged Violation setting out specific charges. An adjudicatory subcommittee then weighed the evidence and found nine of those charges proven by clear and convincing evidence.4Congress.gov. H. Rept. 107-594 – In the Matter of Representative James A. Traficant, Jr. The full committee adopted those findings and concluded that the violations “were of the most serious character meriting the strongest possible Congressional response.” It recommended expulsion in a formal report.
The Floor Vote
The recommendation reached the House floor as House Resolution 495, which stated that Representative James A. Traficant, Jr. “be, and he hereby is, expelled from the House of Representatives.”5GovInfo. H. Res. 495 – In the Matter of James A. Traficant, Jr. Traficant was given a chance to speak in his own defense during floor debate. He maintained his innocence and urged colleagues not to overturn the will of the voters who had elected him nine times.
The opposing argument was simple: a sitting congressman convicted on ten felony counts of corruption could not credibly remain in office. On July 24, 2002, the House voted 420 to 1 to expel him, with nine members voting “present.”6Congress.gov. H.Res.495 – In the Matter of James A. Traficant, Jr. The result cleared the two-thirds threshold by an enormous margin and ended his 17-year tenure in Congress.
How Rare Expulsion Actually Is
In more than 230 years, the House has expelled only six members. Three were removed in 1861 for fighting for the Confederacy: John B. Clark, John W. Reid, and Henry C. Burnett. After the Civil War, more than a century passed before the House used the power again.
The fourth expulsion came in 1980, when Michael J. Myers of Pennsylvania was removed after his bribery conviction in the Abscam scandal. Traficant became the fifth in 2002. The sixth, George Santos of New York, was expelled on December 1, 2023, by a vote of 311 to 114.7Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. Roll Call 691 Santos broke new ground as the first member expelled without a prior criminal conviction, with the House relying on the findings of its own Ethics Committee investigation.8Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives. List of Individuals Expelled, Censured, or Reprimanded in the U.S. House of Representatives
Setting aside the Civil War loyalists, only three members have been expelled in the modern era, and all three cases involved corruption or fraud. Many indicted or convicted members have avoided expulsion by resigning first, and in other cases the House has opted for censure instead.
What Happened to the Seat
Expulsion created an immediate vacancy in Ohio’s 17th Congressional District. Under the Constitution, the governor of the state calls a special election to fill a vacant House seat.9Constitution Annotated. Article I – Legislative Branch Because Traficant’s expulsion came in late July 2002 with a general election already scheduled for November, Ohio did not hold a separate special election. The seat sat vacant for the remainder of the term.
Traficant’s Run From Prison
Nothing in the Constitution bars an expelled member from running for Congress again. The only qualifications for serving in the House are age (25 or older), citizenship (at least seven years), and residency in the state that elects the member.10Legal Information Institute. Qualifications of Members of the House of Representatives Expulsion adds no disqualification, and a federal felony conviction does not either for this purpose.
Traficant tested that principle immediately. From his prison cell, he filed to run as an independent in the November 2002 general election for the same seat. He received roughly 15 percent of the vote, losing to Democrat Tim Ryan, who went on to hold the seat for two decades. The result confirmed the legal reality: expulsion ends a member’s current term, not their eligibility to seek future ones.