Sirotablog

David Sirota's online magazine of news & commentary
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Monday, March 14, 2005

Has Santorum Violated the Constitution?

Article 3, Section 3, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution says “No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.” Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum bills himself as a strict Constitutional constructionist. The question, however, for Santorum is whether he violated the Constitution?

1990:
“A Republican challenger, Rick Santorum, is claiming home is not where Rep. Doug Walgren's (D-Pa) heart is…Santorum's spot is the essence of simplicity. Strange music plays while a picture of an attractive white house is shown. The announcer says, ‘There's something strange about this house.’ The reason is because Walgren lives in McLean, which is ‘the wealthiest area of Virginia’ rather than his suburban district.”
- Roll Call, 12/5/90

1995:
“Rick Santorum, the state's junior U.S. senator, has moved his family to Farlington, a northern Virginia suburb of the nation's capital, according to Mike Mihalke, Santorum's press secretary. Santorum and his wife, Karen, have put their Mt. Lebanon, Pa home up for sale.”
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/19/05

2004:
“Rick Santorum of Leesburg, Va., is saying that he is and he isn't a resident of Pennsylvania…The senator has to prove to the people of Pennsylvania that he is one of them, not just a visitor from the state of Virginia.”
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/19/04