President Reagan's nominee for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Robert Bork, found his nomination defeated in the Senate. His name subsequently became a verb, meaning 'to attack or defeat a nominee unfairly through an organized campaign of harsh public criticism or vilification'.
The Senate voted to acquit former President Trump of charges of inciting the January 6th attack on congress. Although Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed that Trump was legally culpable for a "disgraceful dereliction of duty", he concluded that the Senate is unable to convict former officials. The Senate had previously held it has the power to do so.
Under the direction of President John Adams, the Congress passed the Sedition Act of 1798, which made it a criminal offence to publish statements critical of the federal government. The first individual to be tried under the law was Rep. Matthew Lyon, who unsurprisingly had voted against its passage. Lyon was re-elected from jail.
Learn the story of a place through the people that represented it through history
Visualize the 117th Senate and its members, and compare it with past congresses
