GOP Wants Brown Seated ASAP ... Just Like Kennedy

As the victory of Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race sinks in around Washington, Republicans are pushing for Brown to be seated as soon as possible—and using “a novel and ironic precedent,” Brian Beutler and Eric Kleefeld write. Senate rules require a victory be officially certified by the winner’s state (a process that could take weeks) before the senator takes office—but the body waived those rules for Ted Kennedy, the man Brown replaces, in 1962.

Kennedy was seated the day after his election, a Senate historian tells Talking Points Memo, but the body wasn’t in session at the time, so nobody could object. That’s not the case now, and Senate rules can only be suspended by unanimous consent—something hardly likely in today’s rancorously partisan chamber.
(More Scott Brown stories.)