Durbin: No Burris Senate seat without signature

[struggle4progress]

Source: Associated Press

By MIKE ROBINSON

CHICAGO – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Friday that Roland Burris should not be seated in the U.S. Senate because he has failed to get the secretary of state's signature on his appointment to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the chamber.

"There has never in the history of the Senate been a waiver of the requirement that the secretary of state's signature be part of the appointment process — never," Durbin, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat, told a news conference.

Durbin's statements came hours after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that no law requires Secretary of State Jesse White to sign the appointment, made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to make it official ...

Durbin said Obama's former U.S. Senate seat should not be filled until after the Illinois Senate completes its impeachment trial of Blagojevich, which could take weeks ...



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090110/ap_on_re_us/illinoi...

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Related LBN thread:

Burris appointment valid, Illinois high court says
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[proud progressive]

1. does durbin carry alot of weight here? if so, great!

[Warpy]

2. Durbin needs to keep up to date

the Illinois State Supreme Court has ruled that the SOS signature is not necessary and that Burris should be seated.

They can eject him later if it comes out at Blagojevich's trial that a bribe got him the job.

This is getting beyond silly. The remainder of the term is a lousy two years. These stupid men need to stop preening and posturing and just get on with it.

[EFerrari]

18. Yep. That fig leave is might small. n/t

[tencats]

3. Good!

I'm with my good Senator on this. We can wait.

suntimes.com January 9, 2009
Durbin: Senate won't seat Burris without signature
http://www.suntimes.com/1370116,dick-durbin-roland-burr...

"Durbin (D-Ill.) said it is best for the Illinois Senate to move forward with its impeachment trial of Gov. Blagojevich, wait for the governor to be removed and hope Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn can name a Senate appointee everybody can agree on."

[mopinko]

4. hey, is that tencats as in the bar? np

[jody]

5. Burris has the signature so Durbin can shut up. n/t

[Gman]

6. The state of IL does not tell the US Senate how to conduct it's business

he needs the SOS sig.

[John Q. Citizen]

7. Durbin shits on the law.

[Gman]

12. Aren't you a nutcase

[John Q. Citizen]

13. Durbin could care less about the rule of law, just as long as he gets his own way..

If you find me to be mentally unbalanced because I express that view, then I figure that it is your own personal problem with subservience to your imagined super-hero and your exhibited tendency to boot lick and brown nose power.

At least in my opinion.

I say honor the spirit of the law and quit fucking around throwing tantrums.

[Gman]

15. Like I said...

[EFerrari]

19. Not really. This is an excuse Reid pulled out of his hat.

If IL doesn't tell the Senate what to do, then waiting on an IL officer for something not need in IL is sort of embarrassing.

[w4rma]

8. Durbin is one of the best U.S. Senators in Congress. (nt)

[Wizard777]

9. Durbin is insane. Congress has the right to determine their rules. But they cannot use those rules -

to alter the US or Illinois Constitutions. Neither of these documents even mentions the SoS in the appointment process. Now Durbin is going to give every SoS in the country an extralegal Ipso Facto veto power over the Governors appointments. Burris can go back to Illinois Supreme court and ask for a writ of mandamus ordering the SoS to sign or he can go to SCOTUS and ask for a writ of mandamus ordering the Senate to seat him.

[struggle4progress]

10. In fairness to Durbin, a sentence in Riddick's Senate Procedure,

in the section "Credentials and Oath of Office", says that The credentials of a Senator-elect must, under the law, be ... attested to by the Secretary of State with a footnote to the 4 Feb 1885 Record at 1244. On the other hand, this sentence is immediately followed by a section discussing a few cases in which the Senate waived certificate irregularities

<pdf available here:> http://www.gpoaccess.gov/riddick/browse.html

[No Elephants]

11. What "requirement?" It is not in the Constitution. Durbin is bs'ing.

[IndianaGreen]

14. Durbin will come back and pander to the African-American vote when he runs for reelection

I hope they won't forget how Durbin kept the US Senate lilly white!

[No Elephants]

20. For me, this is not about race, but about the Dems letting politics trump the Constitution, I hope

I am correct. I con't think I could face the prospect of both major parties being that racist.

[bluestatecowboys]

16. Durbin disappointed many of us . . .

Durbin disappointed many of us here in Illinois when he waited until shortly AFTER his recent re-election to ask Bush to commute the sentence of now-imprisoned former Governor George Ryan.

[Barack_America]

17. Careful, Dick, this is starting to look personal.