How Can Marjorie Taylor Greene Be Removed From Congress?

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Republican QAnon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is facing growing calls for her ouster, but how exactly can that be accomplished?

Faced with a growing library of past racist, violent, and seditious views, demands for Greene’s removal have been growing to a fever pitch. It began with outrage over her inclusion on the House Education Committee, but as the revelations grew more extreme and frightening, her removal from Congress altogether became the issue.

The process of expelling a member of Congress is provided for in the U.S. Constitution, and requires a two-thirds majority vote in the chamber from which the member is being expelled. From  Article I, Section 5, clause 2:

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

But as the Congressional Research Service notes, this provision has rarely been used, and only under some pretty extraordinary circumstances:

In the United States Senate, 15 Senators have been expelled, 14 during the Civil War period for disloyalty to the Union (one expulsion was later revoked by the Senate),12 and one Senator was expelled in 1797 for other disloyal conduct. In the House of Representatives, five Members have been expelled, including three during the Civil War period for disloyalty to the Union.

Two other House Members have been expelled, one in 1980 after conviction of conspiracy and bribery in office, and the other Member in 2002 after conviction for conspiracy to commit bribery, receiving illegal gratuities, fraud against the Government in receiving “kickbacks” from staff, and obstruction of justice.

Although actual expulsions from Congress are fairly rare, it should be noted that several Members of Congress have chosen to resign from office rather than face what was apparently perceived as an inevitable congressional expulsion.

The CRS also notes that state recall provisions are generally believed not to apply to federal offices, and that ” no United States Senator or Member of the House of Representatives has ever been recalled in the history of the United States.”

As it stands, 289 House members would have to vote to expel Greene, meaning about 70 Republicans would have to go along.