Words taken down

Words taken down is a procedure used in the United States House of Representatives under the House Rules when a member suggests that another member used inappropriate words in debate.

The Congressional Research Service summarized the process in the following way:

A Member may demand that the words of another Member be taken down. This typically takes place during debate when one Member believes another Member has violated the rules of decorum in the House. The request requires that the Member's remarks be read to the House so that the Speaker may determine whether they are offensive or otherwise violate the rules of the House. If the Speaker determines that the words are out of order, the violator is customarily given a chance to withdraw or amend them, and the Member may ask the House for unanimous consent to strike the words from the Congressional Record. If there is objection, a motion may be offered to strike the words from the debate. Upon the demand that the words be taken down, the alleged violator must immediately sit down and await the Speaker's decision. A Member whose words have been ruled out of order may not speak again on the same day without the House's permission, but the Member can vote. A Member would say: Mr. Speaker, I rise to a point of order, and ask that the gentleman's (or gentlelady's) words be taken down.[1]

Martin L. Levine, law professor at the University of Southern California, notes that "Taking down words, like 'taking down names,' is the start and not the end of a process. A separate step is required to rule the words out of order."[2]

A 1999 study by Kathleen Hall Jamieson found that requests to take down words peaked in 1946 and 1995, years before or after control of the House changed hands.[3][4]

References
  1. Christopher M. Davis, Commonly Used Motions and Requests in the House of Representatives, Congressional Research Service (September 16, 2005), pp. 4-5.
  2. Martin L. Levine, Letter to the Editor, What House's 'Taking Down' Rule Means, New York Times (January 29, 1995).
  3. Bryan W. Marshall, Brandon C. Prins & David W. Rohde, "Majority Party Leadership, Strategic Choice, and Committee Power: Appropriations in the House, 1995-98" in Congress on Display, Congress at Work (ed. William T. Bianco: University of Michigan Press, 2000), p. 109.
  4. Kathleen Hall Jamieson & Erika Falk, Civility in the House of Representatives: the 105th Congress, Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania (March 1999).


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