On the House of Representatives chamber floor, Democrat Thomas Downey of New York confronted Robert Dornan, a California Republican, and Dornan grabbed Downey’s tie in response. Downey approached Dornan in response to a speech Dornan had given two days earlier before the Conservative Political Action Conference, in which he called Downey a “draft-dodging wimp” because of Downey’s repeated denouncement of US-backed anti-government Contras rebels in Nicaragua. During the Vietnam War, Downey received a medical deferment from the draft because of a perforated eardrum. Downey had also been active in protesting the war. The Dornan-Downey beef originated two years earlier, when Downey spoke against Dornan’s nomination for a position at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.[196]
The Dornan speech was made on Saturday, 2 March. On Monday afternoon, 4 March, Downey confronted Dornan, attracting dozens of viewers. Dornan claims Downey grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around, asking if he had actually called him a wimp. Dornan answered “I did and you are.” The exchange became heated, and at some point Dornan accused Downey of having cost him the job two years earlier. According to Downey, as he began to walk away, Dornan grabbed him by the tie and collar and threatened him with “bodily harm.” Dornan claimed he was just straightening Downey’s tie knot, saying later, “I like all the members to look elegant on the floor, you know.” Dornan, according to himself and other witnesses, then told Downey to “get out of my face.” After, Downey went to the Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill to tell him what had happened.[196]
After the incident, Downey released a statement and stated through a spokesman that he would not speak to reporters “until Dornan apologizes.” His spokesman also said that Downey was considering filing a complaint with the House Sergeant at Arms. Several witnesses spoke about the incident. Democratic Congressman Mike Lowry said, “Dornan grabbed Downey roughly by the collar, and I mean aggressively. None of this straighten-the-tie baloney. And he told Downey, ‘Don’t let me catch you off the floor, where you are protected by the sergeant at arms.’ I really think Downey restrained himself.” Republican Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey, who witnessed the altercation, said, “I found it humorous that Downey had to run up to the Speaker when it was over to tell all. It was like a little classroom act . . . Very childish . . . I think he’s made much to-do about nothing.”[196]
The day after the incident, House Speaker Tip O’Neill condemned the behavior, and said he told Dornan, “You can settle it on the street, but don’t settle it on the House floor.” He also told reporters that “discipline” would ensue if “anything like that” happened again. That day, Downey stated again, “Congressman Dornan owes me and the House of Representatives an apology.” Dornan responded, “Apologize for what? For calling him a wimp? I am willing to concede that perhaps he just walks, talks and acts like a little arrogant wimp. But maybe it’s disinformation. Maybe he really wears a black leather jacket by night that I don’t know about.”[196]
7 June 2007
During the final day of the 2007 regular session of the Alabama State Senate Republican Sen. Charles Bishop of Jasper punched Democratic Sen. Lowell Barron of Fyffe in the head after the latter allegedly called the former a “son of a bitch”. The two were then pulled apart by bystanders in the room.[197]
5 June 2011
During a vote of California budget state Democrat Assemblymen Warren Furutani and Republican Don Wagner broke out in a fight over a comment Wagner made that Furutani deemed offensive.[198][199]
15 December 2015
A bloody backroom brawl between the mayor and a council member at a city council meeting in Birmingham, Alabama.[200]
29 May 2017
During a contentious 2017 Texas House of Representatives session, a minor altercation was observed after Republican State Representative Matt Rinaldi was pushed and received personal death threats. The incident occurred after Rinaldi called U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement when a large crowd of protesters, in opposition to the sanctuary cities ban, disrupted the legislative proceedings. Representative Poncho Nevárez, Democratic Party member, admitted to laying hands on Rinaldi amid the fierce debates, but no arrests were made by Texas DPS.[201]
6 January 2023
In the midst of the lengthy 2023 House Speaker election, Representative Mike Rogers was restrained by Representative Richard Hudson when Rogers attempted to lunge at Representative Matt Gaetz.[202] Gaetz, alongside other members of the Freedom Caucus, had blocked Kevin McCarthy’s speakership bid for four days by nominating and voting for other representatives,[203] which caused much tension in the House. This, in combination with Gaetz’s attempt to obtain a subcommittee chairmanship in the House Armed Services Committee (which Rogers was chairman-elect of),[204] precipitated the incident.
The Mace of the United States House of Representatives,[1] also called the Mace of the Republic, is a ceremonial mace and one of the oldest symbols of the United States government. It symbolizes the governmental authority of the United States, and more specifically, the legislative authority of the House of Representatives.
Disciplinary usage
In accordance with the House Rules, on the rare occasion that a member becomes unruly, the Sergeant at Arms, upon order of the Speaker, lifts the mace from its pedestal and presents it before the offenders, thereby restoring order.
There have been at least six instances where the Mace was used to quell disorder. The first known usage of the original mace occurred at the Congress Hall in Philadelphia on January 30, 1798, during a fight between Matthew Lyon of Vermont and Roger Griswold of Connecticut, after which Lyon faced an unsuccessful expulsion vote.[6]
The mace was used to restore order on the House floor on the evening of January 31, 1877, during a special session regarding the election in Florida. Tensions flared and Speaker Samuel Randall “was unable to stop the Members from running from desk to desk, while conducting loud conversations.” The Sergeant at Arms presented the Mace, but to little effect. House rules state that Members should be arrested when ignoring the authority of the Mace, but in this case since there were so many members involved, the Speaker adjourned the session.[6]
In 1880, as the House met to discuss a funding bill as the Committee of the Whole, James B. Weaver of Iowa and William A.J. Sparks of Illinois became involved in a heated discussion, with members attempting to keep them apart. The Speaker ordered the Sergeant at Arms to walk about the floor of the House with the Mace, and order was restored. It was used twice in the 1890s in incidents involving Representative Charles L. Bartlett, a fiery Georgia Democrat who hurled a volume of laws at one colleague and brandished a knife at another.[7]
House records indicate that the mace was last used to restore order during World War I when Representative J. Thomas (Cotton Tom) Heflin of Alabama suggested that some of his colleagues had been unpatriotic in voting against a resolution to enter the war.[8]
A threat to present the mace was made on July 29, 1994, when Rep. Maxine Waters declined to stop speaking. The Speaker Pro Tempore, Rep. Carrie Meek, threatened “to present the mace”. Waters left the floor shortly thereafter, and Meek said that she had been about to order the Sergeant at Arms to present it.[9][10]
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Also, related:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mace_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives