Officers Subject to Recall; Petitioners
Every public officer in the state of Arizona, holding an elective office, either by election or appointment, is subject to recall from such office by the qualified electors of the electoral district from which candidates are elected to such office.
Well and good. Except that, upon election, U.S. Senators and U.S. Congressmen are federal officers; they are not subject to state law.
They cannot be recalled. Period (which, in this case, is an accurate use of the exclusive term).
Your certainty on the issue has been nagging me. A tea Party group in NJ attempted to recall Sen. Menendez because our State Constitution said it could be done. The NJSC declared that power, clearly reserved to the people in our State Constitution, unconstitutional. The founder of the group sums it up as follows:
“In this decision four out of six N.J. Supreme Court justices practiced judicial activism as they disenfranchised the will of the people of New Jersey and our legislatures, declared our N.J. Constitution unconstitutional and disregarded the intent of our founders as they disregarded a letter by George Washington, president of the Constitutional Convention, that clearly stated that our founders intended that we retained the right to recall our representatives,” she said.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45347.html#ixzz2lQpFHgEB
The group had lawyers working with them pro bono, but an appeal to the federal level was never pursued, apparently, for lack of funds. I suspect that you’re much more familiar with relevant case law than I am as a lay person and it would be appreciated if you are able and willing to help me settle my mind and let me know briefly where, when and how the issue has been so definitively settled. Thanks in advance for any further clarification you may provide.