On April 28, the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed to hear Committee to Recall Robert Menendez v Wells. The issue is whether New Jersey members of Congress are subject to recall. The lower state court had refused to decide the issue, but had issued an order that the state must at least give the blank petition forms to people who want to recall U.S. Senator Menendez. New Jersey recalls need the signatures of 25% of the registered voters.
The New Jersey Supreme Court will be the most important court in the U.S. that will have decided the issue of whether the U.S. Constitution permits members of Congress to be recalled. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news. Oral argument will be May 25.
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Conventional wisdom has it that recall is not authorized by the Constitution; especially since the Court shot down term limits. Here is an interesting Congressional paper on the topic:
http://lugar.senate.gov/services/pdf_crs/Recall_of_Legislators_and_the_Removal_of_Members_of_Congress_from_Office.pdf.