O n
Thursday, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of
Appeals once again cited the U.S.
Constitution in ruling that vacancies in the
U.S. Senate must be filled by special
elections, reiterating a ruling made last
month.
In doing so, the Court rejected an appeal
from Illinois officials that a special
election would be too costly and
impractical.
Illinois had a vacancy in the U.S. Senate
when Barack Obama resigned in Nov. 2008 to
prepare for becoming President of the United
States. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
controversially appointed former Illinois
Attorney General Roland Burris to fill the
vacancy.
A lawsuit filed in federal court claimed
that even with the appointment of Burris,
the state still needed to hold a special
election to determine a permanent
replacement, an argument that the federal
appellate court has supported now twice.
The ruling enhances the possibility that
Illinois voters will make two votes for the
U.S. Senate on the Nov. 2 general election
ballot.
One vote would determine who would serve as
the junior senator from Illinois for the
112th Congress. Democratic State Treasurer
Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Congressman
Mark Kirk are the frontrunners of a
contentious race for the seat.
The other vote would be the special election
to determine an interim senator to serve the
remainder of Barack Obama's term from Nov. 3
to Jan. 3 in the 111th Congress.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has
given discretion to federal district Judge
John F. Grady to decide how such a
double-vote would be implemented.
Marty Oberman, a lawyer who is part of the
legal team arguing for a special election,
said one matter Grady would likely rule on
is how nominees for the special election
would be chosen.
Oberman said there are two likely
possibilities. One is that political parties
would get to choose the nominees for the
special election themselves, much like when
Illinois Democrats' recently selected law
professor Sheila Simon to replace former
lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen.
The other possibility is that the current
slate of nominees for U.S. Senate, including
front-runners Giannoulias and Kirk, could
double as nominees for the special election.
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Ken Menzel, a lawyer with
the Illinois State Board of Elections, said
the agency still has some time to change
ballots and prepare for any rulings handed
down by Grady.
"Until the (district) court orders someone
to do something, we're still in sort of
wait-and-see mode as to exactly what needs
to be done," he said.
A spokeswoman with Illinois Attorney General
Lisa Madigan's office, representing the
collective defendants in the lawsuit, did
not specify what actions they would take at
the District Court level.
"We are working with the other parties as
part of the process in the District Court,
which will decide the appropriate next
steps," the spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
The case is Judge v. Quinn and is scheduled
to resume Monday afternoon in federal
district court in Chicago.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By KEVIN LEE]
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