The best part is it’s legally unclear how this will resolve, they’ll likely be able to just stay silent and block any attempt for a special election and have a decent legal argument for it. One last fuck you from Mitch.
If they delay so they don’t have a special election, wouldn’t it be up to the governor to appoint a new Senator? That seems worse for Republicans, since Andy Beshear is a Democratic governor.
Not in Kentucky. It used to be that way but as soon as a democratic governor was appointed they removed that option, and can only have a special election after they have been declared dead and some other steps.
Can you provide a link to that? I haven’t seen anything like that reported. I have only seen it reported that the KY Constitution constrains the timing of special elections such that the GOP needs to hide McConnell’s condition for three more weeks so that it will be for a special election to be scheduled.
Apparently the law itself is so poorly written as to give anyone grounds to sue, which knowing McConnell might have been the point: in election law, timing is EVERYTHING.
It was something I read in a Reddit discussion. Rather than rely on that, I figured I’d go to the horse’s mouth and read the Kentucky constitution directly. Section 152 covers how to handle vacancies. Unfortunately it’s in old-timey legalese and is rather lengthy and complicated. So I had ChatGPT break it down for me.
Turns out there’s an interesting wrinkle.
The Kentucky constitution is quite explicit; “Vacancies in all offices for the State at large, or for districts larger than a county, shall be filled by appointment of the Governor”. A Senate seat counts as an “office for the State at large” because they represent the entire state.
The argument that the statute is unconstitutional is fairly straightforward:
A U.S. Senate seat is a statewide elected office.
Section 152 says statewide vacancies “shall be filled by appointment of the Governor.”
“Shall” is mandatory language.
The legislature cannot override a constitutional command through ordinary legislation.
The problem is the 17th amendment of the United States constitution, which was ratified years after this section of the Kentucky constitution went into effect. The American constitution supersedes state constitutions. The 17th amendment was about how state legislatures choose senators, and it says the state legislature may empower the governor to do so. Which apparently gives final say as to how senators are appointed to the state legislature. So maybe the legislature can make that decision now, even though the state constitution says otherwise.
Nothing’s ever simple. :(
I dunno, I’d recommend the governor at least try appointing someone. Stuff like this never gets sorted out until it actually goes to court.
Yes but if it needs to go to court it’s already pointless because it’ll take too long. And also we just had the supreme court somehow narrowly avoid reading the plain language of the constitution as its written so let’s not pretend that even something stated outright is enough to stop Republicans
If Americans have simply given up on the notion of rule of law or the primacy of constitutions then there are far bigger problems to address here than a mere Senate seat.
Why not try? Don’t just preemptively surrender, make the Republicans actually show themselves for what they are.
Well here’s to hoping they grow a spine after August 2nd when it’s too late for a special election that they can appoint a temp person or better yet force them to reveal his status to remain in the run.
The best part is it’s legally unclear how this will resolve, they’ll likely be able to just stay silent and block any attempt for a special election and have a decent legal argument for it. One last fuck you from Mitch.
If they delay so they don’t have a special election, wouldn’t it be up to the governor to appoint a new Senator? That seems worse for Republicans, since Andy Beshear is a Democratic governor.
Not in Kentucky. It used to be that way but as soon as a democratic governor was appointed they removed that option, and can only have a special election after they have been declared dead and some other steps.
They passed a law saying that, but the Kentucky constitution still says otherwise. So we’ll see what happens.
Do you trust Democrats to do anything besides roll over when things are not as easy as they could possibly be?
I don’t trust them to, of course not. I’m just pointing out the actual legal situation. The law is blatantly contrary to Kentucky’s constitution.
Can you provide a link to that? I haven’t seen anything like that reported. I have only seen it reported that the KY Constitution constrains the timing of special elections such that the GOP needs to hide McConnell’s condition for three more weeks so that it will be for a special election to be scheduled.
Some crypto guy on X did a deep dive into the minutiae:
X link
Xcancel link
Apparently the law itself is so poorly written as to give anyone grounds to sue, which knowing McConnell might have been the point: in election law, timing is EVERYTHING.
It was something I read in a Reddit discussion. Rather than rely on that, I figured I’d go to the horse’s mouth and read the Kentucky constitution directly. Section 152 covers how to handle vacancies. Unfortunately it’s in old-timey legalese and is rather lengthy and complicated. So I had ChatGPT break it down for me.
Turns out there’s an interesting wrinkle.
The Kentucky constitution is quite explicit; “Vacancies in all offices for the State at large, or for districts larger than a county, shall be filled by appointment of the Governor”. A Senate seat counts as an “office for the State at large” because they represent the entire state.
The argument that the statute is unconstitutional is fairly straightforward:
The problem is the 17th amendment of the United States constitution, which was ratified years after this section of the Kentucky constitution went into effect. The American constitution supersedes state constitutions. The 17th amendment was about how state legislatures choose senators, and it says the state legislature may empower the governor to do so. Which apparently gives final say as to how senators are appointed to the state legislature. So maybe the legislature can make that decision now, even though the state constitution says otherwise.
Nothing’s ever simple. :(
I dunno, I’d recommend the governor at least try appointing someone. Stuff like this never gets sorted out until it actually goes to court.
Yes but if it needs to go to court it’s already pointless because it’ll take too long. And also we just had the supreme court somehow narrowly avoid reading the plain language of the constitution as its written so let’s not pretend that even something stated outright is enough to stop Republicans
If Americans have simply given up on the notion of rule of law or the primacy of constitutions then there are far bigger problems to address here than a mere Senate seat.
Why not try? Don’t just preemptively surrender, make the Republicans actually show themselves for what they are.
Well here’s to hoping they grow a spine after August 2nd when it’s too late for a special election that they can appoint a temp person or better yet force them to reveal his status to remain in the run.