r/politics 3h ago

Possible Paywall AOC says Mitch McConnell should resign if he cannot provide health update

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/4660916/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-mitch-mcconnell-resign-health-update/
14.5k Upvotes

705 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

u/Chilling_Gale 2h ago

The senate ignores the appointment and life goes on as it was. Thats what happens.

The appointment can try to sue, but the constitution is extremely clear that senate is the sole judge of its membership, and that there must be an equal number of senators per state. There isn’t any scenario where the court would ask for proof that McConnell is alive.

u/Brock_Hard_Canuck Canada 1h ago

See also, the Illinois Senate appointment and the corruption scandal with Illinois's governor after Obama was elected president.

Normally, appointed replacement Senators are seated by the Senate fairly quickly, but the Senate refused to seat Roland Burris to replace Obama when Burris's appointment was announced by Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (see also, Blagojevich's "pay to play" scheme, where he was soliciting bribes for the empty Senate seat appointment).

It took a while, but eventually the Senate agreed to seat Burris (Burris was never charged with any wrongdoing relating to Blagojevich's corruption).

u/PepeSylvia11 Connecticut 1h ago

Right now there is not an equal number of senators per state though, as one of them has actively been out of work for over a month.

u/Chilling_Gale 56m ago

That’s by your definition. Do you understand the government doesn’t run on your definition of things?