NEWARK -- The judge overseeing U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's federal corruption case has denied the senator's motion to halt the trial on key Senate vote days.

The denial, issued Thursday and published on the court docket Friday, creates a situation in which the New Jersey Democrat would have to choose between being present for his bribery trial in Newark or casting votes in Washington without the jury knowing why he was absent from the courtroom.

The senator told reporters in Jersey City on Wednesday that he faced "a clash of constitutional rights here," and argued he should be able to both attend the trial and represent his constituents, The Jersey Journal reported.

In an opinion explaining his denial of the motion, U.S. District Judge William H. Walls acknowledged that members of Congress "are, in some circumstances, granted individual privileges as a function of their station in government."

Those privileges are limited to the ones found in Article I of the Constitution, he wrote, which includes protections for their legislative activities and a prohibition against their arrest while Congress is in session.

"But the Supreme Court has repeatedly refused to extend special treatment to members of Congress beyond these express privileges," he wrote.

The judge said Menendez does not have a "constitutional duty" to be in Washington on any day, as the Constitution specifically allows for members of Congress to be absent.

Granting the senator's motion would "necessarily thrust the Court into the legislative realm, forcing it to make explicitly political determinations" about which votes were important enough to adjourn the trial, Walls said.

Menendez "...claims that he is in a 'unique situation' because his voting duties are 'on a schedule not of his own making,'" Walls wrote. "But so are the duties of the radio repairman, the cab driver, and the businessman. Yet none would claim the right to dictate the schedule of their own criminal trial. Menendez is given the same choice as any other criminal defendant."

Walls previously had rejected a request by Menendez to delay the start of the trial until October to allow him to participate in votes that included raising the federal debt ceiling and passing a government spending package.

The judge also said he would not tell the jury why Menendez was absent if he chose to go to Washington for the votes during the trial -- only that the senator had "absented himself."

Menendez, a Hudson County native, is scheduled to stand trial Sept. 6 along with Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, the senator's friend and a prominent Democratic Party donor, on an indictment accusing the men of trading political assistance for private plane trips and financial contributions, among other favors.

If Menendez is convicted, the Senate could vote to expel him, paving the way for Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, to pick a replacement.

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