New Jersey State Senator Shirley K. Turner has introduced SB 2857, which says that when a Governor appoints a new U.S. Senator to fill a vacancy, the new Senator must be a member of the same Party as the old Senator. The text of the bill is not yet on the New Jersey legislature’s web page. An employee of the Senator said she does not know what the bill provides, in case the old Senator was an independent, or a member of an unqualified party. Check back later for that information; this post will be amended when the answer is known.
A blatant unconstitutional attempt to add a qualification to be a USA Senator.
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That said – Abolish the minority rule USA Senate with its many blow hard robot party hacks from the many below average States.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
This seems like just so much nonsense to me.
For a good argument as to why this law and similar ones by which state legislatures pass laws to constrain a governor’s choices in appointing someone to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy is, as Demo Rep says, unconstitutional, see this article by David Vikram Amar:
http://verdict.justia.com/2013/01/04/the-constitutional-problems-with-the-hawaii-law-by-which-senator-schatz-was-appointed-to-replace-the-late-senator-inouye
New Jersey State Senator Shirley K. Turner’s intent seems clear. So I would suggest that if the old Senator was an independent, or a member of an unqualified party, then the governor must appoint a Democrat.