This page documents the historical record of corruption among federal officials across all three branches of government. Every entry is based on documented court records, congressional proceedings, or official government investigations. This is not a ranking of current officials; it is a historical record of federal corruption cases that have reached definitive legal or institutional outcomes.
15
Federal Judges Impeached
8
Judges Convicted & Removed
30+
Members of Congress Convicted
5
Members Expelled (Post-Civil War: 0 for corruption)
3
Cabinet Members Convicted
Federal Judge Impeachments — Timeline
1804–2010 — hover for details on each impeachment
Executive Branch
Executive branch corruption ranges from the president and cabinet down through the vast federal bureaucracy. The following table documents the most notable corruption cases by administration, focusing on cases that produced formal legal outcomes, indictments, convictions, or plea agreements, or official findings of wrongdoing by inspectors general or congressional investigations.
| Administration ▲ | Official ▲ | Position ▲ | Scandal ▲ | Outcome ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grant | William Belknap | Secretary of War | Accepted bribes from Indian post traders (1870–1876) | Impeached |
| Grant | Orville Babcock | Private Secretary to the President | Whiskey Ring: conspiracy to defraud government of tax revenue | Acquitted (Grant intervened) |
| Harding | Albert Fall | Secretary of the Interior | Teapot Dome: leased federal oil reserves for $404,000 in bribes | Convicted (1929) |
| Harding | Charles Forbes | Director, Veterans Bureau | Embezzled ~$200 million in hospital construction and supply contracts | Convicted (1925) |
| Harding | Thomas Miller | Alien Property Custodian | Accepted bribes for returning seized German assets | Convicted (1927) |
| Nixon | Richard Nixon | President | Watergate obstruction, abuse of power, contempt of Congress | Resigned / Pardoned |
| Nixon | Spiro Agnew | Vice President | Bribery, extortion, tax evasion (from MD governorship through VP tenure) | No Contest Plea |
| Nixon | John Mitchell | Attorney General | Watergate: conspiracy, obstruction, perjury | Convicted (1975) |
| Nixon | H.R. Haldeman | White House Chief of Staff | Watergate: conspiracy, obstruction, perjury | Convicted (1975) |
| Nixon | John Ehrlichman | Domestic Policy Advisor | Watergate: conspiracy, obstruction, perjury | Convicted (1975) |
| Nixon | John Dean | White House Counsel | Watergate: obstruction of justice | Pleaded Guilty (cooperated) |
| Reagan | Oliver North | NSC Staff | Iran-Contra: arms sales to Iran, diversion to Contras, obstruction | Convicted (Overturned on appeal) |
| Reagan | John Poindexter | National Security Advisor | Iran-Contra: conspiracy, false statements, obstruction | Convicted (Overturned on appeal) |
| Reagan | Caspar Weinberger | Secretary of Defense | Iran-Contra: false statements to Congress | Indicted (Pardoned by Bush) |
| Reagan | Rita Lavelle | EPA Asst. Administrator | Perjury, obstruction re: Superfund cleanup favoritism | Convicted (1983) |
| Clinton | Henry Cisneros | Secretary of HUD | False statements to FBI about payments to former mistress | Pleaded Guilty (Pardoned) |
Legislative Branch
Members of Congress have been convicted, expelled, censured, or reprimanded for corruption throughout American history. The following table documents notable cases of congressional corruption that resulted in criminal convictions or formal institutional sanctions. Since the Civil War, no member of Congress has been expelled solely for corruption; most have resigned before expulsion votes.
| Name ▲ | Chamber ▲ | State ▲ | Era ▲ | Charges ▲ | Outcome ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakes Ames | House | MA | 1873 | Credit Mobilier: bribery of fellow congressmen | Censured |
| Dan Rostenkowski | House | IL | 1994 | Mail fraud, embezzlement of House Post Office funds | Convicted (Pardoned by Clinton) |
| Harrison Williams | Senate | NJ | 1981 | ABSCAM: bribery, conspiracy | Convicted (Resigned before expulsion) |
| Michael Myers | House | PA | 1980 | ABSCAM: bribery, conspiracy ("Money talks") | Convicted & Expelled |
| Randy "Duke" Cunningham | House | CA | 2005 | Accepted $2.4M in bribes (written "bribe menu") | Convicted |
| William Jefferson | House | LA | 2009 | 11 counts: bribery, racketeering, money laundering | Convicted (13-yr sentence) |
| Bob Ney | House | OH | 2006 | Abramoff scandal: conspiracy, false statements | Convicted |
| James Traficant | House | OH | 2002 | Bribery, racketeering, tax evasion | Convicted & Expelled |
| Jesse Jackson Jr. | House | IL | 2013 | Misuse of $750K in campaign funds for personal use | Convicted |
| Chaka Fattah | House | PA | 2016 | Racketeering, bribery, bank fraud, money laundering | Convicted |
| Corrine Brown | House | FL | 2017 | Fraud, conspiracy (sham charity) | Convicted |
| Chris Collins | House | NY | 2020 | Insider trading, false statements | Convicted (Pardoned) |
| Duncan Hunter | House | CA | 2020 | Misuse of $250K in campaign funds | Convicted (Pardoned) |
| Ted Stevens | Senate | AK | 2008 | False statements (unreported gifts from VECO Corp) | Convicted (Vacated: prosecutorial misconduct) |
| Robert Menendez | Senate | NJ | 2024 | Bribery, fraud, acting as foreign agent | Convicted |
Expulsions for Corruption
Although the Constitution grants each chamber the power to expel members with a two-thirds vote, this power has rarely been used for corruption. Of the 20 members expelled from Congress in its entire history, 17 were expelled during the Civil War for supporting the Confederacy. Only three have been expelled for other reasons: Michael Myers (House, 1980) for ABSCAM bribery, James Traficant (House, 2002) for corruption, and most recently in 2023. Most members facing corruption charges resign before an expulsion vote occurs.
Judicial Branch
Federal judges serve lifetime appointments under Article III of the Constitution and can only be removed through impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate. Since 1789, the House of Representatives has impeached 15 federal judges, and the Senate has convicted and removed 8 of them. The following table documents all judicial impeachments, along with other notable cases of judicial corruption that resulted in resignation or criminal conviction.
| Judge ▲ | Court ▲ | Year ▲ | Charges ▲ | Outcome ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Pickering | U.S. District (NH) | 1804 | Intoxication and unlawful rulings on the bench | Impeached & Removed |
| Samuel Chase | U.S. Supreme Court | 1805 | Partisan conduct and arbitrary rulings | Impeached & Acquitted |
| West Humphreys | U.S. District (TN) | 1862 | Supporting the Confederacy while holding federal office | Impeached & Removed |
| Robert Archbald | U.S. Commerce Court | 1913 | Corrupt dealings with litigants and railroad companies | Impeached & Removed |
| Halsted Ritter | U.S. District (FL) | 1936 | Tax evasion and bringing court into disrepute | Impeached & Removed |
| Harry Claiborne | U.S. District (NV) | 1986 | Tax evasion (first judge impeached after criminal conviction) | Impeached & Removed |
| Alcee Hastings | U.S. District (FL) | 1989 | Bribery and perjury (solicited $150K bribe from defendants) | Impeached & Removed |
| Walter Nixon | U.S. District (MS) | 1989 | Perjury before a federal grand jury | Impeached & Removed |
| Thomas Porteous | U.S. District (LA) | 2010 | Bribery, perjury, making false statements | Impeached & Removed |
| G. Thomas Porteous Jr. | U.S. District (E.D. La.) | 2010 | Accepted cash from bail bond company, lied on background check | Impeached & Removed (barred from future office) |
| Samuel Kent | U.S. District (TX) | 2009 | Sexual assault, obstruction of justice | Convicted; resigned during impeachment |
| Mark Ciavarella | PA Juvenile Court (state) | 2011 | "Kids for Cash": accepted $2.8M to send juveniles to private prisons | Convicted (28-year sentence) |
| Michael Conahan | PA Juvenile Court (state) | 2011 | "Kids for Cash": co-conspirator with Ciavarella | Convicted (17.5-year sentence) |
The Impeachment Process for Judges
Under the Constitution, the House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach federal judges by a simple majority vote, and the Senate has the sole power to try impeachments, requiring a two-thirds vote for conviction and removal. Of the 15 federal judges impeached by the House, 8 were convicted and removed by the Senate, 4 were acquitted, and 3 resigned before the Senate trial concluded. The "Kids for Cash" judges (Ciavarella and Conahan) were state-court judges and thus were prosecuted criminally rather than through federal impeachment; they are included here as the most notorious judicial corruption case in modern American history.
Patterns in Federal Corruption
Several persistent patterns emerge from the historical record of federal corruption:
- Executive branch corruption peaks during wartime and national expansion. The Grant administration scandals grew out of Civil War contracting. The Harding scandals exploited the post-WWI oil boom. Iran-Contra grew from Cold War covert operations. Iraq War contracting produced widespread fraud.
- Congressional corruption has shifted from crude bribery to sophisticated influence-peddling. In the 19th century, senators were openly purchased by railroad companies. ABSCAM caught congressmen accepting cash in paper bags. Modern congressional corruption more often involves stock trading on inside information, campaign finance violations, and the revolving door between Congress and lobbying firms.
- Judicial corruption is the rarest but most damaging. Federal judges are convicted at far lower rates than officials in other branches, partly because of lifetime tenure protections and partly because judicial corruption is harder to detect. When it occurs, as in the "Kids for Cash" scandal, the damage to public trust and to individual victims is profound.
- Accountability has improved over time, but gaps remain. The creation of inspectors general (1978), independent counsel provisions (1978–1999), and financial disclosure requirements have increased the likelihood that corruption will be detected. However, presidential pardon power, qualified immunity, and the difficulty of prosecuting senior officials continue to create accountability gaps.
Sources & Citations
- 1 Gov Report U.S. House of Representatives, "List of Individuals Impeached by the House of Representatives" (Office of the Historian, updated 2024).
- 2 Gov Report U.S. Senate, "Complete List of Senate Impeachment Trials" (Senate Historical Office, updated 2024).
- 3 Legal Watergate Special Prosecution Force, Final Report (1977). 69 indictments, 48 guilty pleas and convictions.
- 4 Gov Report Lawrence Walsh, Iran/Contra: The Final Report of the Independent Counsel (1993).
- 5 Book Robert V. Remini, The House: The History of the House of Representatives (Smithsonian, 2006).
- 6 Legal United States v. Ciavarella, No. 3:09-cr-0272 (M.D. Pa. 2011).
- 7 News Congressional Research Service, "Expulsion, Censure, Reprimand, and Fine: Legislative Discipline in the House of Representatives" (updated 2024).
- 8 Book Stanley Kutler, The Wars of Watergate (W.W. Norton, 1990).