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Senate Vacancies

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AZRedhawk44:
The rules for filling a Senate vacancy are controlled at the State level, yes?

I cite Arizona ARS 16-222, section C:


--- Quote ---For a vacancy in the office of United States senator, the governor shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy. That appointee shall be of the same political party as the person vacating the office and shall serve until the person elected at the next general election is qualified and assumes office.

--- End quote ---

If Arizona has such a section, then that means that Illinois has a similar section of law.

How, then, does Harry Reid get away with this?

Reid cites "legal authority" to bar Illinois Pick
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090104/pl_nm/us_blagojevich_senate

snip

--- Quote ---Under the Constitution, Reid said, "We determine who sits in the Senate. And the House (of Representatives) determines who sits in the House. So there's clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to do. This goes back for generations."


--- End quote ---
/snip

How on Earth is this possibly a Federal issue that Congress is permitted to meddle in at all?

Seems to me this is best remedied by:
1.  Impeachment proceedings of the good Governor of Illinois
2.  Illinois recall of the appointed Senator
3.  Re-appointment by Lieutenant Governor of a new choice
4.  General Election to actually choose a Senator.

No reason at all to muddy the waters of State autonomy by having the Senate choose their own colleagues.

K Frame:
Beats the hell out of me.

Maybe he has a copy of the REAL Constitution, not the one that us masses were given.

My reading of the Constitution says nothing about the Senate having the power to determine who sits there. The Senate's internal rules of order and US Code might flesh it out, but it's certainly not in the Constitution.

Scout26:
IIRC, there was a USSC case involving the House, in which the Supremes basically said "If he meets the Age, Citizenship and Residency requirements, he's in.  Deal with it."

The sticking point with Burris is that the Illinois Sec of State, Jessie White, hasn't signed off the "You're a US Senator" form.  However, Burris has filed suit with the Illinois SC, saying that Jessie can't refuse to sign, just because. 

Chances are Burris will win, as there's nothing to allow the IL Sec of State to refuse to sign because "It just ain't right."

Burris will be in the US Senate in about a week.  Then his fellow senators can snub him.  That'll go over well.....

charby:
I first read the topic title as Senate Vaccines. :)

Standing Wolf:

--- Quote ---How, then, does Harry Reid get away with this?
--- End quote ---

He's got lots of friends high in the Democratic (sic) party.


--- Quote ---I first read the topic title as Senate Vaccines.
--- End quote ---

Hmmmmm!

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