Gov. Blagojevich has appointed Roland Burris to the open seat representing Illinois in the US Senate vacated by president-elect Barack Obama. Burris is a former state attorney general, comptroller, and is generally considered well-respected and well-liked. He is also over the age of 30 (he is 71 years old), an American citizen, and a resident of the state of Illinois. Why is any of this relevant?
US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has stated that no one Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich appoints to fill this vacancy will be seated. This reflects a letter signed by all 50 currently sitting Democratic Senators. In essence, the Senate Democrats are claiming the right to exclude Burris from taking this seat on the sole ground that Burris was appointed by Blagojevich, and that this taints his qualification to be a US Senator.
Reaching for my pocket Constitution, I see that indeed each house of Congress has the sole power to judge the qualifications of its members. The Constitution, however, defines what those qualifications are. For a US Senator, the Constitution is crystal-clear: to be eligible, the individual must be (1) at least 30 years old; (2) be an American citizen for at least 9 years; (3) be an inhabitant of the state from which the individual is chosen (Art. I, sec. 3). In essence, what the Senate Democrats are doing is tacking on an additional qualification to the qualifications clause: "and no person shall be a Senator who has been appointed to fill a vacancy (as per Illinois state law) by the corrupt Gov. Blagojevich."
Unfortunately, this position is illegal and our "lawmakers" should know this. In the 1960s, the House of Representatives sought to exclude the duly-elected Adam Clayton Powell on the grounds that he was corrupt. In Powell v. McCormick (1969), the Supreme Court ruled that Congress could not add on where the framers left off and list new qualifications for a Representative -- such as not being corrupt. The House could have taken a vote to expel Powell for corruption, but that was not what they had done in that instance. The qualifications clause was meant to be exclusive so that the people would decide who should represent them, and so the doors of government would be as open to diversity as as possible. Vesting the power of deciding upon qualifications in the legislature was dangerous, according to the framers. We wouldn't want government to become an exclusive club, would we? This principle was reaffirmed in the case finding term limits to be unconstitutional (again, they add additional qualifications for someone to act as a Representative or a Senator--that this individual may not exceed some specified time in office).
But why should I expect knowledge of the law from Senators who confirm someone (Mukasey) as Attorney General who was unwilling to state what everyone has known for centuries -- that waterboarding is torture. Or Senators, who just last summer, tacking for the November elections, enacted the amendments to FISA that legalize Bush's illegal NSA surveillance and insulates the telecom industry from legal liability for civil damages because of their complicity with criminal activity?
By appointing Burris, and inciting the Senate's refusal to seat an otherwise qualified individual, Gov. Blagojevich has exposed the deep venality of the US Senate. In essence, the Senate is saying that, regardless of the Constitution, and regardless of an individual's actual merit, the only qualification that matters for them is who appointed the individual. Welcome back, feudalism!
Of course, the US Senate is free, once it has seated Burris, to expel him in order to protect the "integrity" of the body (that is a 2/3 vote, as defined in Art. I, sec. 5). Now that would be delicious.
Exquisite post ;-)
Letting Blagojevich's choice into the Senate might draw attention to the taint that is on the Senate for the years of laissez-faire governance that has brought us our current sad state of affairs.
Posted by: kurto | January 04, 2009 at 11:00 PM
If the people of Illinois want a voice then they must visit www.wewantavote.org
Posted by: John | January 05, 2009 at 12:53 AM