Governor Rod Blagojevich was impeached by the Illinois House of Representatives on Friday; and his choice to fill President-elect Obama's Senate seat, Roland Burris, was denied permission to join the Senate.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Burris' favor, saying that the appointment was completely legal. I saw that one coming. But the only question now is whether the Senate will delay the appointment, or approve him tomorrow. All the appropriate paperwork has been filed with the Secretary of the U.S. Senate and everything appears to be in order.
What now?
The Senate might well seat Burris without further comment, or delay the appointment until the impeachment of Blagojevich is complete and an outcome is decided. I hope the Senate buries this issue and gets the story out of the news. It's getting really old fast!
Unless there's a specific reason to deny Burris the seat, they should seat him and move on. His nomination by Blagojevich IS in bad taste, but Blagojevich had a right to do so. He wasn't impeached at the time of the nomination nor was he convicted of any crimes. I'm not sure if he's stripped of any powers while the impeachment is in progress in any case.
The Senate needs to settle this; it's a HUGE distraction, which is probably what Blagojevich intended in the first place.
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