Posted on 01/03/2007 8:45:52 AM PST by milwguy
Wanna bet? Constitutionally there is no provision for removing a living, breathing, sitting senator except through impeachment or resignation.
But for a replacement to be named the seat has to be vacant. And unless Johnson resigns, is impeached and removed, or dies he will remain Senator even if he never opens his eyes again.
The Republicans can take control the moment they become the majority party. If Johnson never sets foot on the floor of the senate for the remainder of his term there are still 50 Democrats and only 49 Republicans.
Then we know what the answer is, don't we?
Maybe he was telling the truth? Having seen pictures of Harry Reid a six day old corpse looks great by comparison.
No we don't know the answer. The doctors do have an informed guess that they are not sharing. Actually, nothing but platitudes are being shared.
We know the answer because they aren't saying. If they say anything, guys like you would have an informed opinion that you'd share with the public. If the prognosis were good, we'd be inundated with information about Senator Johnson's courageous fight. So we may conclude that the prognosis is bad. Very bad.
According to the definition of "simple majority" for rollcall votes:
All questions are to be decided on the Senate floor by simple majority vote unless some constitutional provision or Senate rule or precedent provides otherwise. A simple majority vote is defined as at least 50% plus one of the Senators voting, provided that a quorum is present.
So, assuming there are 49 Republicans, 48 present Democrats, and 2 Independents, this gives the Democrats 50 votes. However, in a Senate with 99 members present, a simple majority (50%+1) is 50.5 votes, or 51 if you round.
Does this mean that the Organizing Vote to be held tomorrow will NOT meet the rules for simple majority, so it fails? If it fails, does this mean that the current organization remains in force until a new Organizing resolution can garner 51 votes?
-PJ
They won't because it works in both party's favor. Think Strom Thurmond.
In the meantime we have never had an Admiral remain in charge of a ship who had right sided hemiparesis and expressive aphasia. Somehow the government is able to deal with Admirals whose health has failed. Perhaps we can now start to work on Senators and Representatives who are unable to fulfill their duties.
The Constitution does not cover admirals. It does cover senators.
I would contend that we are not being advised for purely political reasons. The democrats are fully aware of what his chances are and are purposefully concealing it because it would damage them politically.
They are putting their interests above all others.
You can't "make" her, but if the MSM was actually doing the job it claimed to do, it could find out the info from any of dozens of people who know the facts. There are doctors, nurses, x-ray techs, orderlies, file clerks in the hospital with access to the medical records. There are Senate staffers in several offices with knowledge of what Reid has been told. If the MSM can get top secret Presidential briefings onto the NYT front page, they should be able to get this info.
No, there are 49 Reps, 48 Dems, 1 Ind, and 1 Socialist. The Reps are technically the majority party now, but the two odds are caucusing with the Dems.
It is unlikely that there would be a successful suit in this matter since the Supreme Court has no power over Congressional rules wrt Congress's membership and/or rules.
Separation of Powers pretty much rules out any such suit.
Since these matters are explicitly given over in the Constitution to Congress my bet is no court would declare Congressional actions regarding membership to be "unconstitutional".
Hey, here's an interesting thought exercise:
Johnson remains incapable of communication. His wife, with power of atty to make medical decisions, resigns the Senate on his behalf. Legal or not?
If the Senate accepted the resignation then it is valid. If it doesn't, it is not.
After YEARS of recovery, she finally was able to speak clearly, eat by herself, and write (although shakily). She never was able to walk.
She lived, however, many more years enjoying her family and was able to keep up with the news.
It sounds to me like this was a very serious surgery and that Johnson, indeed, will have a long recovery and will not be able to function as a senator for a very long time, if at all.
But they are not exclusively given over to Congress. The 17th A. gives the power to fill vacancies to the State Executive. If the State brings the case that this constitutes a vacancy, then "[i]n all Cases ... in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction."
Can you imagine Johnsons' wife saying something to the effect of " I remember that my husband told me once when we were first married that he didn't wan't to be on a ventilator"!!! NOT on YOUR LIFE..."What comes around goes around"
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