Mitch McConnell Hospitalized Again With "Undisclosed" Condition

These people just will not retire. Their egos are too big and their bank accounts are not yet big enough.

Sen. Mitch McConnell was admitted to the hospital on Sunday, according to a spokesperson.

"Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care," the spokesperson said.

ABC News has inquired about McConnell's condition and diagnosis but his team has not yet provided more information.

This is the latest in a string of medical incidents that the 84-year-old senator has faced in recent years.

So this is a possible problem. As you probably know, the governor of Kentucky is a Democrat, and would be able to appoint a Democrat replacement for this guy who should have retired 12 years ago. The Republican legislature passed a law that says the governor can only pick a replacement from a list submitted by the party of the incapacitated senator, but the governor says that goes against the state's constitution and hints that he will ignore that and appoint a Democrat.

The Kentucky state Legislature passed legislation on Thursday that would change how vacancies in the U.S. Senate are filled, over the objections of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

The Republican-sponsored bill, which would require a special election to choose a senator in the case of an open seat in the unexpired term, passed with bipartisan support as the Legislature nears the end of its session. It passed both chambers with veto-proof majorities.

It's a significant change from how the process currently works. A majority of states -- including Kentucky -- pick successors in vacant Senate seats by gubernatorial appointment. But there are some notable restrictions in the commonwealth: The governor must choose a nominee from a list of three names the outgoing senator's party submits. Beshear would have to choose a Republican, should either Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell or Sen. Rand Paul's seats become vacant.

McConnell last month announced he will not run for another term as GOP conference leader later this year. But he has vowed to serve out the rest of his term, which runs through 2027. Last year, the 82-year-old faced questions about his future after bouts of freezing in public, although Kentucky Republicans who sponsored the bill have insisted that it was not prompted by McConnell's health.

But with the change, Kentucky Republicans now have a backup plan in case there is an opening for the longtime senator's seat before his term expires.

Beshear has not hidden his disdain for the current arrangement. When the appointment rule was passed in 2021, he said it "improperly and unconstitutionally restricts the governor's power." He has also not explicitly committed to following it; when asked over the summer whether he would abide by the law should there be a vacancy, he refused to "speculate about something that hasn't happened and isn't going to happen."

I'm not sure how to read the Kentucky Constitution on this point. I fear Bashear might in fact be right:

The last part of that:

Vacancies in all offices for the State at large, or for districts larger than a county, shall be filled by appointment of the Governor; all other appointments shall be made as may be prescribed by law.

I think "offices for the State at large" would include Senators, who are of course elected by the state at large, and that would be an office filled by the governor, as opposed to other offices, which will be filled as "prescribed by law."

It's very basic law that a statute cannot modify a constitution, only a constituional amendment can. (Unless you're a Democrat pushing the constitution to the left/towards DEI, in which case practically anything can override the constitution.)

He may be right that the legislature has no power to overrule the constitution if the constitution does indeed give this power to the governor alone.

Thanks, Mitch! Give yourself a raise and take the rest of the week off, buddy.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 03:30 PM

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