There's a congressional rule against calling the president 'racist'

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 16 July 2019

The House of Representatives has some absurdly specific rules.

Inside the manual governing the chamber's parliamentary procedures, there's a ban on calling the president "a little bugger," and on saying they "do not care about black people." And there's a broad rule against calling the president or anything they say "racist," which came into question Tuesday when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did just that.

After President Trump on Sunday tweeted racist attacks on four Democratic congressmembers, House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a resolution condemning them. Pelosi called the tweets "racist," and also "disgraceful and disgusting" on the House floor, and before she even finished her speech, Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) asked if she'd like to "rephrase" that comment. Pelosi bluntly shut that idea down, and Collins moved to have Pelosi's words struck from the record.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox