Sorry, Fox Nation, you can't recall Sen. Landrieu

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published

The Constitution-loving folks at Fox Nation are promoting conservative efforts to recall Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA). There's just one problem: the Constitution.

As the Daily World (Opelousas, LA) reported, the effort to recall Landrieu “is 'useless'” and “invalid because there's no legal way to recall a congressman or U.S. senator, [Secretary of State Jay] Dardenne said.” From the article:

Ruben T. Leblanc, of 505 Wiltz St. Lot No. 4 in New Iberia, properly filed a recall petition with the secretary of state's office, but it was rejected as being invalid because there's no legal way to recall a congressman or U.S. senator, Dardenne said.

The recall process stops there because Dardenne said he could not mail copies of an invalid petition to registrars of voters across the state to certify signatures. He discussed his decision with Leblanc this week and sent a letter citing his reasons and a copy of an attorney general's ruling on recalling federal officials.

Dardenne based his decision on a 2008 opinion issued by Attorney General James “Buddy” Caldwell when a Jefferson Parish man wanted to recall U.S. Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao.

Caldwell said research found that only the respective bodies of Congress can decide on the suitability of its members and remove them. The state constitution provision on recalls applies only to state and local officials.

By the way, Secretary of State Dardenne - the man who rejected the petition effort - is a Republican.

In 2003, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service wrote that “the United States Constitution does not provide for nor authorize the recall of United States officers such as Senators, Representatives, or the President or Vice President, and thus no Member of Congress has ever been recalled in the history of the United States.”

Fox Nation could have easily learned that the effort is “useless” if they had just used something called Google (apparently not a preferred tool of Fox News employees). As of 1:30pm today, the 2nd link for “Landrieu petition” is the Daily World article (the first is now Fox Nation).