Washington – Carter Glass was the dean of the U.S. Senate and chairman of the Appropriations Committee when he became incapacitated with heart trouble in the 1940s. The enfeebled octogenarian was absent from the Capitol for four years. Yet his Senate colleagues allowed Glass to keep his seat and his chairmanship.
That was more than a half-century ago, but it illustrates an enduring tradition in one of the world’s most exclusive clubs: Never has the Senate forced its members out of office because they have become physically or mentally incapable of serving.
That hands-off protocol could be a big boon to Democrats today, as they ponder the possibility that Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., could be incapacitated for months or longer following emergency surgery to treat bleeding in his brain. If Johnson dies or leaves office before the new Congress convenes next month, it will erase Democrats’ fragile 51-49 majority and return control of the Senate to Republicans.
But if he survives and history is any guide, the only force that will drive Johnson from office before his term expires in 2008 is a decision by the senator or his family. The Senate has the constitutional power to force a member out but has been loathe to use it.
“No one in the Senate wants to have that kind of responsibility for judging whether another member is capable or not,” said Don Ritchie, associate Senate historian.
There have been a couple of examples of House seats being declared vacant because of inability to serve, but they involved cases where lawmakers were elected while incapacitated and were unable to take their seats.
Aging and infirm politicians are able to linger in the halls of Congress in part because they are surrounded by armies of aides who can obscure a distressing reality, both to the public and the politician.
Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who turned 100 while still in office, was so frail at the end of his career that he could hardly walk onto the Senate floor without gripping the arms of staff members.
