TRENTON – The state Supreme Court has ruled that a Tea Party group’s attempt to recall U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is not allowed by the U.S. Constitution, according to an Associated Press report.
An appeal of Thursday’s 4-2 ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court is planned, according to Rose Ann Salanitri, one of the recall organizers, in hopes that a successful verdict there will aid movements elsewhere to recall other U.S. senators.
Although the state constitution allows a recall, the AP report says, the top court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not.
“The historical record leads to but one conclusion: the Framers rejected a recall provision and denied the states the power to recall U.S. Senators,” Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote in the majority opinion, quoted in the report.
The group said they targeted Menendez for his liberal political views, particularly his support for the health insurance overhaul passed by Congress. He hasn’t been embroiled in any particular scandals, or voted differently than he said he would when he was elected in 2006.
“The New Jersey Supreme Court today ruled that this fringe effort to recall a leader in the fight against special interests is definitively unconstitutional,” Menendez spokesman Afshin Mohamadi said in a written statement Thursday. “It is a resounding victory against the tea party’s Washington-based right-wing corporate backers, who are waging economic war on the middle class.”
Menendez will be up for re-election in November 2012.