On November 18, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled 4-2 that the U.S. Constitution prevents states from providing for the recall of members of Congress. See the opinion here. The majority decision and the dissent, together, are 142 pages.
On November 18, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled 4-2 that the U.S. Constitution prevents states from providing for the recall of members of Congress. See the opinion here. The majority decision and the dissent, together, are 142 pages.
One more item to add to the nearly dead U.S.A. Constitution.
How many States have recall sections in their State constitutions ???
i.e. terms of office — cut short by a recall election.
Any recalls now pending for 1 or more of the NJ Supremes ???
Law school question: can a state court decision invalidating part of a state constitution on federal constitutional grounds be appealed to the federal courts? It doesn’t seem likely, but I thought I’d ask.
#3, I’m guessing “no”.
Since the term of office of gerrymander U.S.A. Senators is 6 years in the Fed Const. — 17th Amdt — then there is an obvious Federal Question — in connection with the Fed Supremacy clause in Art. VI.
A state’s highest court is the final arbiter of that state’s law. But if, as stated in #3, the ruling is not supported by adequate and independent state grounds — if the state court had to base its decision on the Federal constitution — then the Federal courts should be able to hear an appeal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adequate_and_independent_state_ground
I suspect that this is seen as adding an additional rule or qualification for this particular federal office, and the courts have generally opposed States doing that, except when it comes to ballot access.
A [odd] distinction between ballot access rules and qualifications for federal public office was made by the court in a 1990s case involving term limits.