The Senate passed the Equal Rights Amendment 91-9, but an insufficient number of state legislatures subsequently ratified it.
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'.
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.
President Clinton was acquited of obstruction of justice charges in his impeachment trial, a two-thirds majority vote having been necessary to convict.
By a vote of 96-3, Ford was easily confirmed. Click to learn who the three dissenting votes were.
