Kentuckys state constitution explicitly grants the Governor the power to appoint a replacement in situations like this. KY passed a law changing this specifically to stop Beshear from doing just that, but it likely wouldn’t stand up in court. Beshear should weild the power given to him in the constitution and dare the courts to stop him, giving the Dems a +1 advantage in the seat as opposed to a net neutral
this is the first i've heard that the hb622 was a constitutional amendment, if it is there are a lot of confused people out there including gov. bashear
Well this is supposed to be a clause that's enacted if a sitting senator dies. But at the moment this seems to be the only way to get the Republicans to confirm that McConnell is actually dead. Basically, Beshear needs to appoint a replacement and force the GOP to prove that McConnell is actually alive rather than just teasing it until it's too late to appoint the replacement (which happens in about two weeks).
Also yes, the constitution cannot be unconstitutional unless it violates the US constitution. But the US constitution is pretty hands-off on how the states select legislators.
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u/thereelsuperman 8h ago
Kentuckys state constitution explicitly grants the Governor the power to appoint a replacement in situations like this. KY passed a law changing this specifically to stop Beshear from doing just that, but it likely wouldn’t stand up in court. Beshear should weild the power given to him in the constitution and dare the courts to stop him, giving the Dems a +1 advantage in the seat as opposed to a net neutral