Harry Reid Defends his Unconstitutional Decision to Bar Roland Burris From the Senate

 Harry Reid and other Democrats have threatened to bar Roland Burris, who was appointed to the senate by the corrupt Rod Blagojevich, from taking his seat on the senate floor. There is only one little problem with this idea- the constitution.

  Article 1, Section 5 of the constitution gives each chamber of Congress the power to set the qualifications of its members. In the case of Illinois, the governor is allowed to replace a vacant senate seat. And there is also  staredecisis on the issue of blocking a person from taking his senate seat as well under the case of Powell v. McCormack when it was ruled that the only way a person can be stopped from taking that seat is if the person does not meet the qualifications. Roland Burris does.

 However those two facts haven’t deterred Harry Reid who claims he can do whatever he wants to do, constitution be damned. Harry Reid claims that he has legal authority to block Roland Burris from taking the seat that is rightfully his.

We determine who sits in the Senate. And the House (of Representatives) determines who sits in the House. So there’s clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to do. This goes back for generations

  While under the constitution Harry Reid cannot stop Roland Burris from taking his seat there is a way for Burris to be removed from his seat under the same article of the constitution. He can be voted out by a 2/3 majority once he takes his seat. So yes, he can determine who sits in the senate but if he cares about the constitution and about stare decisis he will first let Roland Burris sit and then move to have him expelled.

 I don’t think that the Democrats want anything to do with that so they are hoping that they can convince Roland Burris to quietly go away.

 It is funny how when Chief Justice John Roberts went before the senate for his confirmation hearings that so much emphasis was put on stare decisis when it came to Roe vs. Wade but suddenly now stare decisis seems to mean so little to the same senate when it comes to Powell vs. McCormack.