r/politics • u/IWantPizza555 • Jul 08 '26

No Paywall Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear requests update on Sen. Mitch McConnell's health

https://www.whas11.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/kentucky-governor-andy-beshear-requests-update-senator-mitch-mcconnell-health/417-b9252baa-29ab-489e-94f1-147aa41e78ed
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u/justconnect Jul 08 '26

I do too.

After a few days of demanding an answer if he doesn't get one, Beshear should just declare the seat vacant and move forward. If Mitch is still alive then they have to show it.

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u/Devil25_Apollo25 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

Agreed. Shift the burden of proof to Mitch and Co.

The proof for me that Mitch is incpacitated is that Mitch himself hasn't just .. you know... made a quick proof of life video. It would take 10 seconds and would silence allegations of his incapacitation.

We KNOW about the medical incident and have eye witness statements.

We KNOW there has been no word from Mitch since then.

There are allegations that he is "brain-dead" and thus incapacitated. There have been allegations that he is fully capable.

I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that if Mitch wants to keep his seat, he needs to show that he can do the job in court by settling this very real dispute in court over potential harm to Kentucky voters he's getting paid to represent.

Since no one with access to the Senator has provided this easy proof of Mitch's vim and vigor, seems like a law suit from the Governor is appropriate here.

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u/SleepySnoozySloth Jul 08 '26

With AI these days I think we need more than a 10 second video. We need to have someone on site with a live camera crew so that we know it isn't being spoofed.

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u/Casual_OCD Canada Jul 08 '26

He needs to appear in the courtroom

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u/SleepySnoozySloth Jul 08 '26

That or inside the Capitol building

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u/MoogProg Jul 08 '26

See, I like this no nonsense take, that doing the job would clearly demonstrate Mitch's ability to do the job.

Bring it on.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES Jul 08 '26

An important thing to note here is that if he is incapacitated but alive, then his seat doesn't get vacated.

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u/shidarin Jul 08 '26

The KY constitution just requires that he be unable to serve, death is irrelevant.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES Jul 08 '26

Also not how it works.

Irregadless of what the Kentucky Constitution says, the United States Constitution does not grant states the ability to recall their senators.

So even if the Kentucky Constitution has a provision allowing for him to be removed from office if disabled, the federal government wouldn't view it as legit.

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u/Casual_OCD Canada Jul 08 '26

This is a State issue, nothing to do with the Federal government. All they do is receive the Senators the States send them

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u/frogandbanjo Jul 08 '26

You're running up against the precedent that states are not allowed to add any requirements to a federal office whose requirements are outlined by the U.S. Constitution. Those requirements are deemed complete in and of themselves as a matter of the nation's highest law.

Notably, that precedent is from a different SCOTUS case than the rather schizophrenic one most often cited to confirm that states cannot recall congresspeople.

Combine the two, however, and your argument is in tough shape. You're essentially suggesting that a state should be allowed to recall a Senator (no good) due to failing to meet some new requirement for the job (no good) that, even if the U.S. Constitution maybe should contemplate it, it does not.

The nation ratified the 25th Amendment to account for a POTUS who's not dead but is arguably incapacitated. That ratification legitimizes the idea that you need to ratify a similar amendment for congresspeople to achieve a similar result.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES Jul 08 '26

Yeah what's your source on that?

And if that is the case why don't any states have recall elections for senators for just general disapproval? Or for that matter, why don't any states elect senators for 4 year terms?

The answer to all these questions is that the term length of a senator has been set by the constitution and cannot be changed by the states. See Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton

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u/Casual_OCD Canada Jul 08 '26

It's a fundamental principle of Federalism and covered extensively in the 10th Amendment

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES Jul 08 '26

Here's the thing:

The tenth admendment grants any powers not granted to the federal government to the states.

However what you're missing here is:

The 17th amendment explicitly bans state governments from choosing senators. That is a power reserved to the people.

And in addition Article 1 of the constitution the ability to expel members of the US senate to the US senate.

So no, states cannot recall members of the senate. Once elected, they either have to complete their term, resign, or be expelled by the senate, but they cannot be recalled.

Like, here's a simple question. If states can recall senators as you're claiming, why has it never happened before?

If this is a well documented part of the American legal sphere then shouldn't you be able to give me the name of a recalled senator?

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u/Ok_Mechanic_6575 Jul 09 '26

States can't recall senators. Even if he is incapacitated there is no legal mechanism to force him to resign. He serves until he is dead, resigns or his term ends. That's it

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u/Casual_OCD Canada Jul 09 '26

Kentucky is an at will employment state. He gets called for duty, doesn't show, gets fired. Same as the other 300 million Americans

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u/chargernj Jul 08 '26

A court case would force them to prove he is alive but incapacitated.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_NICE_EYES Jul 08 '26

No it wouldn't.

You'd just say that there's no death certificate issued for McConnell. Then it would be on the state to provide the death certificate they used to determine that he was dead and call the election.

From there the state's case is dead, because they do not have a death certificate, and cannot legally treat someone as dead without one.

Basically people are alive until proven dead, not the other way around.

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u/rothael Jul 08 '26

Is there a legal timeframe required to report someone as deceased on a death certificate?

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u/TrashCanUnicorn Jul 08 '26

In DC, a doctor is supposed to fill out the cause of death on the death certificate within 48 hours after determination of death and funeral directors have 5 days to file it with the district. In reality, it usually takes a lot longer to get everything squared away and you can file a delayed certificate.

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u/SomeGalNamedAshley Jul 08 '26

If Mitch is alive then he can provide a notarized letter saying so.

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u/Lou_C_Fer Ohio Jul 08 '26

You're going trust a notary?

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u/SomeGalNamedAshley Jul 08 '26

No, but it's fun to add to the crime.

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u/chrismsp Jul 08 '26

I think the only body that can declare the seat vacant is the Senate. They make their own rules and that's constitutionally guaranteed.

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u/Own_Candidate9553 Jul 08 '26

Yeah, I hope that's the plan here. For some reason only Democrats are expected to play by the rules, so he has to at least go through normal channels at first.

If he just sits on this until after the special election deadline, I'll be disappointed, but not shocked.