Denying Moore may be unconstitutional

The question being batted around the U.S. Senate these days is whether or not “the greatest deliberating body in the world” would allow Roy Moore to be seated in this august body if he is duly elected by the people of Alabama.

Moore is being accused of sexual misconduct with several women, one of whom was 14 at the time of the alleged incident.

All of the claims against Moore are alleged to have taken place almost 40 years ago.

It is middling strange that the Senate goes into high dudgeon, with its breathless condemnation of Moore, when it seemed to have little to no objections to Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. Chris Dodd creating a “waitress sandwich” during a drunken night on the town in 1985. (This is a family newspaper, so Google “Senator’s waitress sandwich.”)

An even more cowardly and craven act of the U.S. Senate occurred in 1969 when Kennedy drove his car off a wooden bridge into a tidal pond on Chappaquiddick Island. Although Kennedy managed to escape the submerged vehicle, his passenger, 28 year old Mary Jo Kopechne, was not so lucky. Kopechne may have made it all right, but the senator failed to report the accident for about 10 hours and Kopechne suffocated.

In neither of the above cases did the Senate, in its infinite wisdom, consider removal or even censure of the senators involved. Indeed, Kennedy was regularly referred to as “the liberal lion of the Senate.” President Barack Obama weighed in on the senator’s legacy when he called Kennedy, “the greatest Democratic senator in history.”

The U.S. House of Representatives is a little better when it comes to disciplining its members. In 1983, Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Gerry Studds had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old congressional page. Studds, the first openly gay man to serve in the House, turned his back on the members when he was censured. Rep. Studds was re-elected by his constituents.

The only member of Congress from either house to be denied his seat is Democratic Rep. Adam Clayton Powell III from Harlem. Powell was the first person of African-American decent to be elected to Congress from New York. After his re-election in 1967 the House Democratic Caucus stripped Powell of his committee chairmanship and the full house refused to seat him. When the smoke cleared the Supreme Court ruled in Powell v. McCormack that the House had acted unconstitutionally when it excluded Powell because he had been duly elected by his constituents.

Note to Senate leadership: check U.S. Supreme Court decision Powell v. McCormack, June 1969, prior to taking action against Moore.

Rube Render is the Curry County Republican chairman. Contact him at: [email protected]