Posted by
Bill Crawford on Friday, September 25, 2009 2:32:03 PM
The Democrats in Massachusetts have resolved a legal conundrum in their own way- ignore the law.
In 2004, the State changed the replacement process for an open Senate seat, because they were afraid that if John Kerry was elected President, Governor Romney would appoint a Republican replacement. The new law took the appointment out of the Governor's hands and set a specific timetable for a special election.
When Kennedy died, that meant there would only be 59 Democrat Senators until the election next January. They started exploring the possibility of changing the law back, and probing the legal challenges of applying the new law to pre-existing circumstances (like replacing a seat that was already open).
They obviously didn't like the answer, because the Governor went ahead and appointed a replacement. They are hoping that while any legal challenges are happening, they will be happening while the new guy is on the Senate floor, using his vote card.
Whatever it takes. Welcome again to the world of moral relativism. This is what Governor Blago faced in Illinois earlier this year. He was told that, being he was under bribery investigation for his attempts to cull a replacement for Senator Obama, he should not appoint one. He defied that, and appointed one anyway. That guy is still on the Senate floor still, happily voting away.
I don't know how one calls out people for disrespecting the law like that. Illinois and Massachusetts are so heavily Democrat that there are enough moral relativists voting to allow that in perpetuity.