Massachusetts Republicans opposed to Democratic Governor Deval Patrick's recent Senate appointment- former DNC Chairman and close Ted Kennedy confidant Paul Kirk- are seeking a court-ordered injunction to keep Senate Democrats from seating it's newest interim Senator.
State GOP officials are seeking the injunction in state court, claiming that the maneuver violates the Massachusetts Constitution. Typically, certain types of legislation passed by the state's lawmakers must go through a 90-day waiting period before taking effect. But after signing the bill that authorized senatorial appointment power, Patrick issued an emergency declaration pushing the law into immediate effect.
Legal analysts say the injunction is unlikely to issue.
Kirk's appointment follows a legislative change for Massachusetts that has roiled Republicans both in Massachusetts and nationwide. In the final weeks of his life, Senator Kennedy- fearing that his death might deprive Democrats of an imperative vote in the health care reform fight- wrote a letter to Governor Patrick and the leaders of both chambers of the state legislature to urge them to pass a law that would allow the sitting governor- in the event of a vacancy- to appoint an interim Senator rather than allowing the seat to remain vacant until a special election could be held. That interim replacement would be barred from running in the special election.
The proposal was seen by many Republicans as directly contradictory to a previous bill passed in 2004- when it was possible that the election of Massachusetts' other Senator, John Kerry, might give then-Republican Governor Mitt Romney the ability to choose a fellow GOPer to fill the seat. The legislature overwhelmingly passed the bill, claiming that it was more democratic for direct election than to simply permit a Governor to choose a new Senator with whom the state would be stuck for up to two years.
Kennedy argued that this change didn't violate the spirit of the 2004 legislation, but rather that it simply added to it. The electorate still chooses its permanent Senator, but avoids a period of under-representation during the spell between the vacancy and the special election.
The Massachusetts state House passed Kennedy's proposed legislation, and the state Senate followed suit earlier this week. Patrick wasted no time signing the bill and pushing forward with a replacement for Kennedy. Kirk had the support of the Kennedy family, though early reports suggested Patrick was also considering former Governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.
