Excess of Democracy

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New Orleans Times-Picayune op-ed: "Mary Landrieu's residency isn't up to courts, it's up to Congress"

I wrote an op-ed that will appear in Wednesday's New Orleans Times-Picayune and is available online. It begins:

News reports recently surfaced revealing that U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu is registered to vote at her parents' home in New Orleans, which she also lists as her primary residence. But she also has a home in the District of Columbia and spends a substantial amount of time there. Political opponents question whether she is an inhabitant of Louisiana and have urged elected officials to investigate her qualifications. If she isn't an inhabitant, after all, she fails to meet the Constitution's qualifications for members of the United States Senate.

But the dispute about whether she is an inhabitant is not a question for state election officials or judges to decide ahead of an election. It's a question for the voters on Election Day, and for Congress after the election.