Excuse me, but Article 1 of the US Constitution defines the Legislative Branch of the US Government.

Article 1, Section 1 defines this as The US Congress which is composed of a House of Representatives and a Senate.

Article 1 Section 2 defines the house of representatives, and how it’s members are selected.

Article 1 Section 3 defines the US Senate and how it’s members are selected.

No individual state can redefine these federal government bodies, or change the criteria for the selection beyond what the US Constitution allows. You do not seem to understand the US Constitution, and the relationship between the Federal Government and the States.

This is my last posting on this subject.

Bye!

“The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.”

That seems to say to me that you aren’t aware of what the US Constitution is supposed to do in the first place. It is to LIMIT what the federal government can do. The state constitutions are to define all else! So, your question seems uniformed, to say the least.

The state cannot override the US Constitution in determining how they will fill a federal government vacancy (US Senator), and Illinois has not done anything that is contrary to the US Constitution.

If the state could ignore the US Constitution, why have a US Constitution?

The Governor’s appointment power comes from an Illinois Statute (10 ILCS 5/25-8)

“(10 ILCS 5/25?8) (from Ch. 46, par. 25?8)
Sec. 25?8. When a vacancy shall occur in the office of United States Senator from this state, the Governor shall make temporary appointment to fill such vacancy until the next election of representatives in Congress, at which time such vacancy shall be filled by election, and the senator so elected shall take office as soon thereafter as he shall receive his certificate of election.
(Source: Laws 1943, vol. 2, p. 1.)

This Statute, which implements the seventeenth amendment to the US Constitution does not make provisions for a special election, but the seventeenth amendment does allow for it, so hypothetically the legislature could repeal this statute and replace it with one that required a special election, but any such special election would have to be initiated by the Governor, not the legislature to be constitutional under the seventeenth amendment.

“Once it became known throughout the state that Governor Balgojevich was being entertained by the U.S. Attorney for his creative attempts to shore up his retirement plans and once it was realized that the Governor had yet to pick a replacement to fill Barack Obama’s Senate seat, the Illinois GOP latched on to the call for a special election as the solution for that issue.

Unfortunately, they’re wrong.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, it is definitely the only way a Republican could possibly be sent to Washington as our junior senator from Illinois. But special elections are not the constitutional way we fill a vacated senate seat. It just isn’t.”

May I suggest that you read the seventeenth amendment to the US Constitution. There are two constitutional ways to to fill a senate vacancy. A Special election or an appointment by the Governor of the state depending on how the state legislature implemented the seventeenth amendment. The Illinois law implementing the seventeenth amendment selected the gubernatorial appointment option without any restrictions. To implement the special election option now would require that the legislature revoke the current statute and replace it with one implementing the constitutional special election option, but the governor would most certainly veto that legislation. He would, however, most likely wait to the very last minute to do so to drag the stripping of the appointment power out as long as possible while the legislature overrode his veto. Then by the US Constitution, Governor Blagojevich, not the state legislature, would control the scheduling of the special election.