FWD: Large Scale Replacements of House and Senate

[Lynne Henderson]

Thanks fo rbringing this up, Prof. Maule.
Other papers--including (gasp) the San Francisco Chronicle covered this 
today.  Apparently the 30 or so sponsors aren't getting much attention, but 
the gap in the Constitution does exist:  the only way to replace a member 
of the House is by election. (governors appoint Senators to serve the rest 
of a deceased members term, as we all know)  Spending and tax bills must 
arise in the House.  If the entire House is killed, then there is no branch 
to initiate spending until elections are held.
The question I had about this is whether this requires a constitutional 
amendment, or whether legislation could designate alternative methods of 
replacements for members of the House under any scenario and what happens 
if only part of the house is incapacitated or killed?
Lynne

At 05:41 PM 10/24/2001 -0400, you wrote:
> From a FoxNews article (just the beginnnig, rest at 
> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,37126,00.html )
>
>                  Lawmaker Ponders a Congressional
>                  Catastrophe
>
>                               Wednesday, October 24, 2001
>                               By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
>
>                               WASHINGTON ¯ What would happen if a 
> majority of the
>                               U.S. Congress fell victim to some sort of 
> terror attack?
>                               What once was a scenario reserved for the 
> silver screen
>                  is suddenly not such a far-fetched notion.
>
>                  As a result, one legislator has a solution to such a 
> problem, and is floating an idea that
>                  might have been unthinkable two months ago. Rep. Brian 
> Baird, D-Wash., has
>                  suggested a constitutional amendment that would enable 
> state governors to suspend
>                  the democratic process and appoint members to the House 
> of Representatives if 25
>                  percent or more of the body were obliterated.
>
>                  "Dealing with this is in no way an act of panic," Baird 
> said. "It's an act of courage.
>                  Honestly, I don't think we'd be excused for not stepping 
> up to the plate. We have a duty
>                  to hold up the Constitution."
>
>
>
>Jim Maule
>Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
>Villanova PA 19085
>maule at law.villanova.edu
>http://vls.law.vill.edu/prof/maule
>President, TaxJEM Inc (computer assisted tax law instruction) (www.taxjem.com)
>Publisher, JEMBook Publishing Co. (www.jembook.com)
>Maule Family Archivist & Genealogist (www.maulefamily.com)

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