NJ SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ARGUMENTS ON CONSTITUTIONALITY OF STATE AMENDMENT ALLOWING RECALL OF PUBLIC SERVANTS
by Sharon Rondeau
(Apr. 29, 2010) — A group in New Jersey is working to recall Senator Robert Menendez (D) on the grounds that he cast an unconstitutional vote in favor of the “health care reform” bill last month. The New Jersey Supreme Court will hear an appeal by Menendez on May 25.
Menendez is appealing a lower court ruling from last month which upheld the state statute allowing for the removal of U.S. Senators and other government officials. Other reports have erroneously stated that the U.S. Constitution precludes the removal of a senator, as the U.S. Constitution is actually silent on the matter.
However, the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution states:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The group organizing the recall, New Jersey Tea Parties United, began its mission to recall Sen. Menendez in September 2009 based on a 1995 constitutional amendment which “granted citizens the power to recall federal officials.”
Since then there have been at least two court hearings, the most recent having been held in March wherein a New Jersey appeals court allowed the constitutional amendment to stand. About the decision, an attorney for the state was quoted as saying, “The Appellate Division, recognizing the ‘grave and momentous consequences of invalidating’ New Jersey’s constitutional and statutory recall provisions, decided to ‘apply caution and restraint.’ … The State will not seek to overturn this exercise of judicial prudence and restraint.”
There are 18 states which provide for the removal of sitting U.S. Senators, New Jersey being one of them. New Jersey’s law stipulates that the signatures of 25% of registered voters must be garnered within 320 days in order to have the measure placed on the ballot for a vote. The website which promotes the signature drive and provides other information about the recall effort can be found here.
An in-depth essay on the topic of recall of public officials states that “Members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives are not exempt from state law processes allowing for recall of elected officials.”
The constitutional amendment providing for recall of senators and congressmen in New Jersey can be found here.
Other states which have the ability to recall elected officials are Louisiana, Colorado, Kansas, Arizona, Oregon, Michigan, and Nevada.
Well we ought to be able to win this one. Since he is “sitting” maybe we won’t have to have “standing” for a change. (LOL!) BTW (which means by the way) it would sure be nice to get to court and MAKE THESE PEOPLE talk for once. Maybe we can get discovery, too.
Poetry Critic
The good(?????) senator should not fight this so hard after all there are other remedies that could be much worse to remove someone from office.
The people just may investigate and find criminal acts and jail him!
After all if he has been in Washington more than 2 hours he more than likely has committed at least 1 crime!
As for impeachment congress has to do that and I would not recommend holding your breath while waiting for them to find anyone in DC guilty otherwise they would have to impeach the entire congress and have no one left to judge the guilty ones.
Bob,
I couldn’t agree with you more. But all the blame can’t go to the dem’s. There are plenty of unconstitutional neo-cons as well. We need average citizens with some morals and common sense in Washington. That sir will go a long way to fixing our problems.
RECALL sounds like a useful tool to add to IMPEACHMENT, ARRESTS, and ELECTIONS as a way to rid ourselves of all these corrupt politicians. America just will not heal until we clear the slate of these unconstitutional, liberal progressive, thugs.
I DITTO ALL OF THE ABOVE. WISH WE COULD DO THAT IN IOWA. TOM HARKIN IS A HUGE LA RAZA SUPPORTER. Aren’t we the lucky ones??? Plus, the state of Iowa has turned into a sanctuary state, my town is FULL OF THEM. It costs taxpayers $6000/head to send the little illegals to school. My tax bill is $2000/year. I hope we can stop these dangerous libs/progressives but I fear they are selling America down the river.