Jerusalemcar5 v. Atlasia (I think, not sure of the correct title)

[Jake]

Senators take office when they swear themselves in. That much is established. Dismiss this.

[Jake]

Burn.

[Jake]

I would assume that to cast a vote (or at least be eligible to cast a vote), and by being eligible count as a 10th senator, he must be sworn in and by eligible to discharge his duties.

[Jake]

He was Senator-designate, not Senator, from the time he was appointed to the time he swore himself in. It's pretty clear he was no more a Senator than you or I.

[Jake]

Ok, simply taking the office doesn't make one eligible to carry out the powers of Senator. One of those powers is being counted as a voting member of the Senate, which Speed of Sound was not at any point during the debate, vote, or veto override of the bill in question. As such, he is not counted in the number of Senators eligible to vote, and 2/3rds of the remaining Senators is 6.

[Jake]

My two cents here:

The Constitution explicitly states that a Senator must be sworn in before they can discharge the powers of their office.

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I think we can all agree that one of those powers of a Senator is to cast a vote. So, we've established that a Senator must be sworn in to cast a vote.

So, to vote on the veto override, a Senator must've been sworn into office. At the time, Speed of Sound was not sworn into office, so he was ineligible to vote on the override. Why then should he be counted among the number of Senators for the purpose of determining a 2/3rds majority? It makes little sense to count him as one of ten, when he is ineligible to make his opinion known either way.