i'm dribbling my edits in as I have time
But, the good news is that the GOP's request to stop Gov. Patrick from naming Kennedy's replacement has failed.
Shortly after Gov. Patrick signed into law the bill giving him authority to appoint Kennedy's successor, the GOP sued to prevent the governor from exercising his new power. In addition to filing suit, the GOP sought a temporary restraining order to prevent Gov. Patrick from appointing the replacement. The GOP claimed that Gov. Patrick's actions violated the Massachusetts constitution.
Early AP article through Yahoo
The state Republican Party argued that Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick exceeded his constitutional authority by appointing Paul G. Kirk Jr. on Thursday. Lawmakers passed a bill this week giving Patrick the power to choose an interim senator.
As you remember, the GOP went in ex parte and tried for a temporary restraining order (TRO) yesterday. The judge ruled against the ex parte request and instead scheduled a hearing for this morning. (ex parte is typically when one party goes to a judge on an emergency basis and asks for immediate relief. sometimes both parties are present, but evidence and argument are scant. judges tend to be cautious about granting ex parte motions).
I'm not a lawyer in Mass., but here in Texas, a party requesting a TRO has to show a liklihood to prevail on the merits of the suit. Otherwise, no TRO. Looks like Mass. has a similar requirement.
"The (Republican) Party has not shown that it has a chance to succeed on the merits and, therefore, any risk of harm to the party will not outweigh the risk of harm to the governor and the commonwealth," Connolly wrote.
Luckily, Mass. will get its second senator shortly. From what I understand, V.P. Biden will swear Paul Kirk in at approximately 3 PM today (eastern).
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly denied the party's request to delay Kirk's swearing in. Vice President Joe Biden was slated to do so at the U.S. Capitol two hours after the ruling was issued.
Here is some video of local news covering this:
UPDATE: Here is an updated story from AP through Yahoo. More details.
[Judge]Connolly sounded a skeptical note, foreshadowing his eventual decision, by asking O'Brien to define the irreparable harm the party would suffer — one requirement for granting an injunction.
"The net effect of the motion is that the commonwealth would not have two senators in Washington for 90 days?" Connolly asked O'Brien.
"That is correct," the attorney replied.
"How does that affect the Massachusetts Republican Party?" the judge asked.
The GOP argued that the irreparable harm was the governor's abuse of constitutional power. Basically, they argued that Gov. Patrick's emergency declaration usurped legislative power.