Burris Should be Seated
Although Rod Blagojevich may have been engaged in highly unethical, potentially criminal, behavior, he is still governor of Illinois and therefore allowed to appoint a (temporary) successor of Barack Obama to the U.S. Senate. Some may find that an unwise move for Blagojevich to make considering the fact that his potentially criminal behavior may have had everything to do with this subject, but unwise is not illegal nor reason for anyone - let alone present members of the U.S. Senate - to refuse Blagojevich’s nominee to take his rightful place in the Senate.
So I can only welcome the news that Senate Democrats are moving increasingly towards seating Burris, regardless of their thoughts about Governor Blagojevich.
The conclusion: Democrats in the Senate overreached tremendously when they refused to seat Burris, a man with quite some experience and more than enough credentials to become a U.S. senator. Harry Reid et al. should have known better than to play a game they could not win. The result: defeat before the eye of the camera and massive humiliation. Well played Senator Reid.
That he would be seated was a given when he didn’t fold to Reid’s bluster.
But it was fun to watch them all folding like cheap suits.
That the law was on the side of Burris seems fairly clear. However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that he should be seated. He has to be, because that’s the law, but law and justice sometimes part ways.
It could well be that Burris is a fine and clean public servant and in no way would I assume he’s dishonest simply because he was appointed by someone who clearly is. This isn’t about Burris, it’s about Blagojevich. It strikes me as profoundly wrong that someone who could show such contempt for the law and his citizens could still have the power to appoint a senator. That Burris, and not some clearly corrupt pol, was the one appointed only softens, not eliminates, the issue.
Frankly I think that, much like the Democratic primaries shed light on the various issues with the primary system, this appointment sheds light on the fact that an extraordinary power, the appointment of a US senator, is currently held in most cases by one single person, and that this has some serious potential problems. Burris will be seated, but it would be nice (but unlikely) if states would take the opportunity to reflect on the way they select internim senators.
I half agree with your statement that Burris should be seated. The point is that Rod Blagojevich is walking over thin ice and if he is guilty all this nomination process will seem unethical.
I disagree. Blagojevich is going to be impeached; everything he touches is tainted by his corruption. A better approach would be to hold a special election for the empty senate seats.
marc, that might be better but the law as written has to be followed, not the law as we now realize it should have been written. If there’s nothing in the statutes that says that the governor has lost the authority to appoint under these circumstances, then no one can legally circumvent his authority to do so.
Burris sent an innocent man to death row, and insisted on pursuing the prosecution even after somebody else confessed and even after DNA evidence cleared the accused man. He thought being ‘tough on crime’ would help him win reelection. The man spent 11 years in prison before being released and finally pardoned.
Burris is morally unfit for office.