Under Article I, Section 5, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, each chamber of Congress may "punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member." Expulsion is the most severe punishment Congress can impose on one of its own members. Only six House members have been expelled in U.S. history — three in 1861 for supporting the Confederacy, one in 1980 for bribery, one in 2002 for financial crimes, and one in 2023 in a corruption case. In practice, members facing expulsion votes almost always resign first to avoid the formal record of removal. Resignation does not affect retirement benefits the same way expulsion does, and it ends the House Ethics Committee's jurisdiction over the resigning member, effectively halting any ongoing investigation.