Many may be surprised by the title of this entry, however, I assure you my logic is sound. Roland Burris meets all the qualifications of a U.S. Senator as mandated by the Constitution. In lieu of an election, he was appointed by a sitting Governor while the State Legislature was out of session to fill a vacancy.

A little research shows that, according to the Constitution, this is all that is required. The Senate rules seem to suggest that the Secretary of State is required to sign off on the appointment before everything is in order; however, this seems to be inconsistent with the word “Executive” in the Constitution. One can look at this two way 1.) Executive means the Head of State (Governor) or 2.) the State’s Executive Branch (which would include the SoS.)

That said, I am in ardent support of this issue going to the Supreme Court of the United States. It should be fast tracked as this is a unique Constitutional question that should be answered immediately. I wager that they would find that Mr. Burris does have a right to that Senate seat, barring Gov. Blagojevich retracting the appointment.

Personally I do not support Mr. Burris’ positions, nor do I feel he is the best candidate in entire state of Illinois. I dislike Blagojevich and I believe he is in error by making such an appointment, but that does not trump the Constitution of the United States. The Illinois legislature had a chance before they recessed to set a date for a special election, they failed to do this. They are thus the party to blame, not the sitting Governor. Mr. Burris would have never been appointed had the legislature took action in a timely manner. A more competent legislature might would have cut through the bureaucracy and pushed impeachment proceedings in December, rather than now.

It appears that the Illinois State House will vote to impeach today, no clue on how the State Senate will proceed. This certainly has been an interesting saga, and will only continue over the course of the next year or so. Despite all the underhandedness of the situation, one thing is clear – Burris should be seated.

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