Powell v. McCormack case brief

Powell v. McCormack case brief summary

395 U.S. 486 (1969)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Petitioner sought review upon a writ of certiorari of a decision of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, dismissing petitioner's complaint, which alleged that the U.S. House of Representatives unconstitutionally excluded him from taking his seat as a duly elected congressman, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

CASE FACTS
Petitioner challenged the U.S. House of Representatives' refusal to allow him to take his seat in the 90th Congress by voting to expel him by a two-thirds vote after the 89th Congress found him guilty of filing deceptive travel expense reports and making illegal salary payments to his wife. The parties agreed that petitioner met the standing qualifications for election to Congress set forth in U.S. Constitutional Article I, § 2.


DISCUSSION

• The Supreme Court held that: 
• (1) the case was not mooted by petitioner's being seated in the 91st Congress; 
• (2) congressmen named as defendants were immune from suit under the Speech or Debate Clause of U.S. Constitutional Article I, § 6, but congressional employees named as defendants were not immune; 
• (3) the 90th Congress's denial of membership to petitioner was an exclusion, not an expulsion; 
• (4) the judiciary had subject matter jurisdiction over the suit; and 
• (5) the case was justiciable rather than barred by the political question doctrine. 
• The court remanded with instructions to issue a declaratory judgment in favor of petitioner.

CONCLUSION
The court held that the U.S. House of Representatives unconstitutionally excluded petitioner from taking his seat in the 90th Congress because petitioner met the standing qualifications for election as a Congressman set forth in the constitution, and because the House had no discretionary authority to deny membership to any person duly elected by his constituents.

Suggested Study Aids and Books