{
  "id": "RL34037",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL34037",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 453790,
      "date": "2016-06-23",
      "retrieved": "2016-09-09T19:19:15.292425",
      "title": "Congressional Censure and \u201cNo Confidence\u201d Votes Regarding Public Officials",
      "summary": "The House and the Senate have, from time to time in the past, proposed and\u2014on some occasions\u2014adopted a resolution which has expressed the body\u2019s disapproval, condemnation, censure, or lack of confidence regarding a particular official in the executive branch of the federal government.\nSuch actions have not been considered as part of the express impeachment authority of the House within the Constitution (nor the authority to try such impeachments in the Senate), nor have they generally been considered as either part of the inherent contempt authority of either house of Congress or the express constitutional authority of each house of Congress to discipline its own Members. Rather, such actions seem to be in the nature of a \u201csense of the House\u201d or a \u201csense of the Senate\u201d resolution, whereby a simple resolution is proposed and adopted by one house of Congress, without the concurrence of the other house of Congress, and without a requirement for a \u201cpresentment\u201d to the President (as would be required of a \u201cbill\u201d). Such simple resolutions adopted by one house (or concurrent resolutions adopted by both houses) have come to be recognized by parliamentarians as a vehicle to express the opinion and sense of Congress on a nonlegislative matter; and \u201csense of\u201d the House, Senate, or Congress resolutions concerning a wide range of subjects have been used frequently in the past by the House and Senate. \nThe adoption of a simple or concurrent resolution expressing the House\u2019s or Senate\u2019s \u201ccensure,\u201d \u201ccondemnation,\u201d or \u201cno confidence\u201d in a particular officer of the federal government does not have any immediate or binding legal import, but does express a particular moral judgment and may have both symbolic as well as political implications.\nThis report has been updated from an earlier version, and may be updated in the future to reflect new rulings, practices, or precedents.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": true,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL34037",
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL34037",
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    },
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 341358,
      "date": "2007-06-11",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T18:04:25.378029",
      "title": "\u201cNo Confidence\u201d Votes and Other Forms of Congressional Censure of Public Officials",
      "summary": "S.J.Res. 14 of the 110th Congress, submitted on May 24, 2007, has been described as proposing a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. This report discusses the possible significance of action by Congress or either House to adopt a resolution expressing \u201cno confidence\u201d in a cabinet official or other official in the executive branch of the federal government. It examines the legal issues that could be raised by resolutions of this kind and discusses the relation of such action both to votes of no confidence in systems of parliamentary government and to congressional action to censure or otherwise express disapprobation of public officials. It also describes known instances in which action to express a lack of confidence in, or impose another form of censure on, public officials have been attempted in Congress.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL34037",
          "sha1": "74ef651a22e2c323070e19b75b3a7b5e4001e6f8",
          "filename": "files/20070611_RL34037_74ef651a22e2c323070e19b75b3a7b5e4001e6f8.html",
          "images": null
        },
        {
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL34037",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Constitutional Questions",
    "Legislative Process"
  ]
}