Also known as: senator · senators
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Members of the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with two elected from each state to serve staggered six-year terms and cast one vote each on legislation and other Senate business.
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Scott Summers, a sitting United States senator, receives a nomination to serve as a presidential elector for his state. State officials reject the nomination on the ground that the Constitution forbids any senator from holding that position. The rejection stands, and another qualified person is appointed instead.
State officials in a large industrial state challenge a federal wage-and-hour statute that applies directly to state employees. The court upholds the statute, explaining that states receive their primary protection from federal overreach through the participation of their senators and representatives in the legislative process rather than through judicial limits on congressional power.
Seventeen state senators sue after a lieutenant governor casts a tie-breaking vote that enacts a procurement bill they opposed. The senators argue that their own votes were nullified by an unauthorized action. A court recognizes their standing because the direct cancellation of their votes creates a concrete injury traceable to the presiding officer.
Congress conditions federal highway funds on states raising their drinking age to twenty-one. State officials object that the condition commandeers state legislative authority. The court sustains the condition, noting that states remain free to decline the funds and that senators from each state participated in enacting the spending measure.
A corporation runs advertisements urging voters to contact their senators about ending a judicial filibuster. Regulators attempt to treat the ads as prohibited electioneering. A court holds the ads constitute protected issue advocacy because they contain no unambiguous appeal to vote for or against any candidate.
A journalist refuses to disclose sources for a story alleging that a senator accepted improper payments. Prosecutors seek the information in a criminal investigation. The court balances the reporter's interest against the need for evidence and orders limited disclosure after finding no alternative source exists.
The Constitution provides that each state shall have two senators, each casting one vote.
A senator must be at least thirty years old, a United States citizen for nine years, and an inhabitant of the state represented at the time of election.
No. The Constitution expressly disqualifies any senator or representative from appointment as an elector.
States receive their principal protection through the political process in which their senators and representatives participate rather than through judicially enforced limits on federal power.
…Clause. "Person" is used in other places in the Constitution: in the listing of qualifications for Representatives and Senators, Art. I, § 2, cl. 2, and § 3, cl. 3; in the Apportionment Clause, Art. I, § 2, cl. 3; in the Migration and Importation provision, Art. I, § 9, cl. 1; in the Emolument Clause, Art. I, § 9,…