Federal judge being asked to block special election
An Oklahoma City federal judge is being asked to issue a permanent injunction “preventing the premature and unauthorized special election in 2022” to replace U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe.
Enid attorney Stephen Jones made the request Friday after losing at the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Justices on March 24 unanimously refused to take up his request after the state’s solicitor general argued he lacked standing.
Jones is the longtime criminal defense attorney who represented Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh at a federal trial in Denver in 1997. He was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 1990.
He is arguing the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires the special election to be held after Inhofe leaves office.
“The Governor lacked authority to issue his Proclamation requiring a special election to replace Senator Inhofe prior to Senator Inhofe actually vacating his office,” he told U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton in a legal filing.
Gov. Kevin Stitt ordered the special election after Inhofe announced he would step down on Jan. 3. Inhofe, a Republican, wrote in a Feb. 28 letter his pledge to resign was irrevocable.
The special election is scheduled to take place at the same time as Oklahoma’s already scheduled statewide elections this year.
Jones contends the special election cannot be held until 2024. He also contends the governor must appoint a replacement to serve until that special election.
Jones wrote the governor on March 31, applying to be the temporary replacement.
He told the judge in his injunction request that his application gives him standing “to bring this action.”
He said Sunday his letter “sets out a reasonable case that I could be an effective United States senator and should be considered but I’m not known as an enthusiastic supporter of Gov. Stitt’s.”
The state’s solicitor general, Mithun Mansinghani, contends Jones is just wrong in his novel arguments. He also criticizes Jones for putting forth “absurd” scenarios to try to justify the arguments.
“Oklahoma has the inherent and broad power to determine the timing of senatorial elections pursuant to both ... the Oklahoma Constitution and ... the U.S. Constitution, which is further confirmed by the 17th Amendment’s clause that ‘the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct,’” the solicitor general told the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
The solicitor general also told justices special elections have been held before in Oklahoma and elsewhere before resignations are official.
“Both of our current Senators were elected in that manner,” he said. “In the U.S. House of Representatives ... States commonly set special elections after a resignation is announced even before the resignation is effective.”