With even more women accusing Roy Moore of sexually inappropriate behavior several decades ago, can the US Senate keep him from being seated if he wins the Alabama special election next month? I put that question to Steve Smith, Washington University professor of social science and political science, and author of "The Senate Syndrome."
He explained that the answer has two components -- exclusion and expulsion. The first is about whether the Senate could refuse to seat someone who has legally won an election. The other is about whether the Senate could throw someone out whose ethics it felt were not worth of that seat.
But there's more -- what can Republicans do to try to guarantee they retain that seat, and thus a two-vote majority over the Democrats? Would a write-in candidate work? What if Luther Strange (who was appointed to that seat on a temporary basis when Jeff Sessions left to become Attorney General) quit tomorrow so the governor of Alabama could appoint another temporary senator until a new special election was scheduled?
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