Selection
Article Five of the Oklahoma Constitution authorizes the Oklahoma House of Representatives to elect a speaker at the beginning of each regular session. Unlike the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives is required to be a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The Oklahoma Constitution also allows for the election of a Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives at “times as may be necessary,” which include in the event of the resignation or death of a speaker or during special sessions.
In practice, speakers are elected following each biennial general election and serve two-year terms. Following the general election, the party holding the majority of seats in the Oklahoma House of Representatives comes together before the new Legislature comes into session and elects a speaker-elect. The Oklahoma House of Representatives formally elects the speaker on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January in odd-numbered years. After the speaker is elected, he is sworn in by the chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
An example of a case in which a speaker was elected under special circumstances was in 1983. Speaker Dan Draper was convicted of a felony, election fraud, and his office was declared vacant by Governor George Nigh. Nigh set the date for a special election. By the time Draper's conviction was overturned on judicial appeal, a new speaker had been elected.
Read more about this topic: Speaker Of The Oklahoma House Of Representatives
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—Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926)
“Judge Ginsburg’s selection should be a model—chosen on merit and not ideology, despite some naysaying, with little advance publicity. Her treatment could begin to overturn a terrible precedent: that is, that the most terrifying sentence among the accomplished in America has become, “Honey—the White House is on the phone.””
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—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)