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HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania senators planned a Wednesday vote on whether to remove Attorney General Kathleen Kane on grounds that her suspended law license has rendered it impossible for her to do the job.

A resolution introduced Tuesday by the Senate’s top-ranking Republican, President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, asserts that “reasonable cause exists” to vote Kane out of the office she’s held for more than three years.

Kane, a Democrat, was charged by prosecutors in the Philadelphia suburbs in August with leaking secret grand jury material to a reporter and lying about it, allegations she hotly denies and is fighting. Trial is scheduled for Aug. 8.

It’s not clear how the vote will go, although a Democratic member of the special Senate committee that investigated the matter issued a strong statement of support for her.

“The attorney general is being railroaded by the Senate,” said Sen. Art Haywood, D-Montgomery. “Tomorrow, 50 senators will make a decision on the attorney general’s removal, while 43 were not present in any hearings on this matter and have not heard from any witnesses. That’s worse than a kangaroo court. Even in a kangaroo court, you hear from witnesses.”

The Special Committee on Senate Address split along party lines last month in endorsing a floor vote on Kane’s removal. That was on hold until the state Supreme Court ruled Friday against Kane’s request to have her license reinstated.

Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, told reporters he would prefer to wait at least until March to debate Kane’s ability to perform her job with a suspended law license.

“I don’t understand the rush to get this done less than a week after the decision,” Costa said. He said his request to wait until March “fell on deaf ears.”

Through a spokesman, Kane declined comment and did not respond to a request for an interview on Tuesday. She did not appear before the special Senate committee, but instead submitted written remarks that warned the process wasn’t constitutional and argued her removal would deprive her and all state residents of important rights.

The Senate vote, which unlike impeachment does not require any action in the House, is being held pursuant to a rarely used provision of the state constitution.

The Removal of Civil Officers section of the constitution says all elected civil officers “shall be removed by the governor for reasonable cause, after due notice and full hearing, on the address of two-thirds of the Senate.”

The Senate has one vacant seat, so 33 “yes” votes will be required. If it passes, the resolution directs the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms to deliver to Gov. Tom Wolf the resolution and records from the Special Committee on Senate Address within 24 hours.

Wolf, a Democrat, has not said what he will do, but Costa said a legal analysis by Senate Democrats concluded the governor would not have the discretion to keep Kane in her job if the Senate votes for it.

Kane’s spokesman said after plans for the vote were announced Monday that “our system of justice is founded on a presumption of innocence and she is not being offered that presumption.”

Kane and at least three other Democrats are currently collecting signatures to get on the April 26 primary ballot.

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By Mark Scolforo

Associated Press