* 1:24 PM - Secretary of State Jesse White has filed his response to the Roland Burris lawsuit designed to force him to co-sign his appointment form.
It’s essentially a punt.
From Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s press release…
The response makes it clear that the Secretary of State has done everything he is legally required to do regarding the Burris appointment. […]
Instead, what is at issue here is a form that is not required by law, but is merely “recommended” by a Rule of the U.S. Senate. Moreover, a U.S. Senate Rule cannot impose a legal obligation on the Illinois Secretary of State.
Standing Rule II of the U.S. Senate provides, “The Secretary of the Senate shall send copies of the following recommended forms to the governor and secretary of state of each State wherein an election is about to take place or an appointment is to be made so that they may use such forms if they see fit.” (Emphasis added.)
In contrast, when the U.S. Senate creates a mandatory requirement for a Secretary of State’s signature and seal, they enact a law, and they have not done so in this case.
For example, under federal law, when a U.S. Senator is elected, the State must certify the election under state seal, and the law explicitly requires that the certification of election “shall be countersigned by the secretary of state of the State.” 2 U.S.C. §§ 1(a), (b).
There is no law requiring the Secretary of State to sign a “recommended” form of the U.S. Senate.
The decision to treat the U.S. Senate’s “recommended” form as a legal requirement is a decision of the U.S. Senate. It remains up to the U.S. Senate to seat Mr. Burris.
The full filing is here.
Back to you, Harry Reid.
By the way, Reid said at his press conference that the Senate rule in question has never been waived in the history of the US Senate.
Also, keep in mind that the IL Supreme Court hasn’t uttered a word one way or the other as of yet. They could step in and force a resolution, or they could take the Madigan/White advice and declare there is no legal issue here and punt as well. The other option is just to stay low and hope the heat blows over before they have to make a decision. They’ve already ruled in favor of Blagojevich once (when they rejected AG Madigan’s petition to have him removed from office). You wonder how far they’ll go for the guy.
…Adding… As someone just pointed out to me, this will require Harry Reid to devise yet another way to cave in to Roland Burris. As mentioned above, Reid said the Senate rule has never been waived, but if the Supremes go along with White’s logic, then White will never have to sign the appointment form. Reid will then have to backpedal some more to get this issue off his back. And he’ll look even weaker and more duplicitous. We’ll have to wait and see what the Supremes do.
…Adding again… It appears Ben and I are anonymously crediting each other for the “Reid will have to find another excuse to cave in to Burris” line. lol
* 1:57 pm - Before…
On Dec. 30, after Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris to the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid and assistant leader Dick Durbin of Illinois said no, plain and simple.
They declared, “Anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic caucus.”
After…
Said Durbin, after he and Reid smiled for photos with Burris at the Capitol: “I think it was important that the United States Senate say — and we did, as a Democratic caucus unanimously — that we were going to carefully scrutinize and review the process by which this Senate seat would be filled if Governor Blagojevich was involved, and that’s what happened.”
Weaklings.