In that case, the Senate would decide the matter, constitutional scholars say. With the Senate in Republican hands, it's likely Cheney would get the job anyway. Robert Drinan, a former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts who now teaches law at Georgetown University, said he didn't foresee a problem. But, he said, opponents of Cheney could raise questions about where he has paid taxes, where he owns property and other details. Paul Rothstein, another Georgetown law professor, said the law is liberal about residency, letting state-switchers claim a state as their home even if they don't intend to live there for years.
Some legal experts say the separate state question has become irrelevant.
But Donald Ritchie, the Senate Historical office's associate historian, said it remains important. Elected officials who jump from state to state are nothing new, he said, citing the case of James Shields.