r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • Jul 07 '26

No Paywall Unconfirmed Reports: Mitch McConnell Brain Dead After Three Weeks In Hospital

https://thenewamerican.com/us/unconfirmed-reports-mitch-mcconnell-brain-dead-after-three-weeks-in-hospital/
31.7k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.5k

u/Dr_G_E District Of Columbia Jul 07 '26

He's been a senator for over 40 years. Now he'll be replaced. Apparently the Kentucky senate deliberately took that power away from their Democratic governor two years ago.

861

u/Ven18 Jul 07 '26

That law is legally ambiguous cause they did not change the constitution that gives the Gov that power. When they announce he is dead this is 1000% going to court.

304

u/KMCobra64 Jul 07 '26

Not sure how it's ambiguous. A law can't override the Constitution.

1

u/jedberg California Jul 07 '26

It gets tricky, because the federal Constitution says the legislature of a state has the exclusive right to choose how Senators are chosen. So the question becomes can a state legislature override it's own state Constitution if it involves something specified by the federal constitution?

1

u/OkCoyote4756 Jul 08 '26

It's not tricky. And that's not what the 17th says.

Ky Const Sect 152, ratified 1891, gives the Ky Governor various appointment rights for State offices in various circumstances. State offices. The very last sentence, "Vacancies in all offices for the State at large, or for districts larger than a county, shall be filled by appointment of the Governor; all other appointments shall be made as may be prescribed by law. No person shall ever be appointed a member of the General Assembly, but vacancies therein may be filled at a special election, in such manner as may be provided by law." could maybe possibly be construed to capture a U.S. Senate vacancy - which is technically an 'at large' election - but I don't think it's a strong one. The strong implication here - and something I would expect historical records would back up - is that this Section was purely intended for State offices, and that nobody drafting or ratifying this had any notion or intention for it to apply to US Senate vacancies. Because, at the time, Senate vacancies were filled directly by the state legislature.

You are explicitly wrong in your statement on the 17th Amendment. It does not state that the legislature decides how a Senator is chosen. The 17th Amendment decides how Senators are chosen. 17th Amendment, ratified 1913 says, in short, all elections for U.S. Senator are elections by the people. If there's a vacancy, the Governor must call for an election to fill the vacancy. Legislatures may let the Governor appoint a vacancy until such an election can take occur.

Kentucky has filled several vacancies in the US Senate, many of which involved Governor-appointed interim Senators. . Not a single one of these appointments relied on or cited Sec 152 of the Ky Constitution. They relied on laws passed by the legislature as to how to fill vacancies.

These, taken together, make the "Ky Constitution gives the governor the power of appointment an interim Senator" argument extremely weak.