The Republican-controlled House of Representatives censured Rep. Al Green this week after he disrupted President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress.

Green, D-Texas, joins a list of more than two dozen lawmakers formally disciplined by the House .

Among them is Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who was censured four years ago for sharing an anime video that depicted him murdering a Democratic member of Congress.

A censure, where House lawmakers vote to discipline one of their colleagues, is a relatively rare occurrence. Gosar was the first lawmaker to be censured in more than a decade when his colleagues took him to task in 2021.

Green’s censure passed largely on party lines this week on a 224-198 vote. Ten Democrats voted with Republicans in favor of the resolution.

All of Arizona’s House Republicans, including Gosar, voted to censure Green. Two of the state’s three Democrats voted against the measure. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., did not vote.

Green stood during Trump’s address and shouted “You don’t have a mandate” before being drowned out by Republicans and removed from the chamber.

Why was Gosar censured?

Gosar was censured by the House for sharing a violent animated video on social media in 2021. In the clip, Gosar was depicted murdering Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and attacking President Joe Biden.

All House Democrats and two Republicans voted to censure Gosar at the time. Lawmakers debated the measure for four hours. Gosar defended the clip as a metaphor for the Democratic Party’s immigration policy.

"For this cartoon, some in Congress suggest I should be punished. I have said decisively there is no threat in the cartoon other than the threat immigration poses to our country," Gosar said on the House floor before the vote.

Ocasio-Cortez supported the measure, saying at the time that lawmakers should “draw the line” against depicting and inciting violence.

What is a House censure?

A censure “registers the House’s deep disapproval of member misconduct that, nevertheless, does not meet the threshold for expulsion,” according to the House historian .

The House approves a censure by a majority vote. Then, the censured lawmaker must stand in the well of the House while the censure is read aloud as a “form of public rebuke.”

The first lawmaker to be censured was Rep. William Stanbery of Ohio, who was disciplined in 1832 for insulting House Speaker Andrew Stevenson.

Other forms of rebuke

Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., was reprimanded by Congress in 2020 , a similar measure that is considered less severe than a censure.

Schweikert was reprimanded on a voice vote. He was disciplined for ethics violations that included not complying with campaign finance rules, including reporting errors on his financial report, misuse of congressional funds for unofficial purposes and pressuring office staff to perform campaign work, House records show.

Schweikert at the time was the first member of the House to be reprimanded in eight years, and is the 11th to be formally reprimanded since the modern system of ethics discipline was implemented in the 1960s.