Say Anything Blog

And he’s some guy you’ve never heard of that’s most known for losing primary contests to fellow Democrats.  Oh, and he’s black, so that should at least satisfy the people who thought Obama’s replacement should be picked based on skin color.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected today to name former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate…

Shortly after Obama’s Nov. 4 victory, Burris made known his interest in an appointment to the Senate but was never seriously considered, according to Blagojevich insiders. But in the days following Blagojevich’s arrest, and despite questions over the taint of a Senate appointment, Burris stepped up his efforts to win the governor’s support.

Though he is 71, Burris has said that Obama’s replacement should be able to win re-election and he has noted that despite a string of primary losses in races ranging from Chicago mayor to governor and U.S. senator, he’s never lost to a Republican…

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada previously warned Blagojevich, following the governor’s Dec. 9 arrest, that Senate Democrats would not seat any appointment the two-term Democratic governor made. Reid’s warning was contained in a letter signed by all 50 sitting Democratic senators, including the No. 2 Democrat in Senate leadership, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Harry Reid insists that Burris won’t be seated (though with the re-election for that seat due in just two years, and given Burris’ history of losing primary challenges, he wouldn’t last long anyway) but it appears as though he may not have the power to deny Burris a seat in the Senate:

In 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that the House of Representatives could not refuse to seat Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a New York Democrat who was accused of putting his wife on the payroll and misusing travel funds to vacation in the Caribbean. Despite those charges, he had been reelected by his constituents in Harlem.

“The Constitution does not vest in the Congress a discretionary power to deny membership by majority vote,” wrote Chief Justice Earl Warren. Congress may “judge only the qualifications set forth in the Constitution,” he said.

The qualifications are minimal. A senator must be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen and “an inhabitant” of the state.

I really don’t see any basis by which Burris can be denied the seat.  Blago is in trouble, to be sure, but until he’s impeached he’s still Governor.  It is within the power of his office to make this appointment.  And per above, the only questions the Senate can raise are those pertaining to the qualifications for the Senate set out in the constitution.

And it does appear as though Burris meets all of those.