Posted by Jed Lewison on Tue Dec 30, 2008 at 3:58 PM Pacific

The Senate Can Block Blago's Appointment

Update (7:17PM): I've written a more thorough version of this post for Daily Kos, copied below.

There's some debate about whether or not the Senate has the power to block Blago's appointment. But even if they don't have the power to block the appointment, they do have the power to delay seating Burris.

If worse comes to worse, and they both cannot delay any longer and are forced to seat Blago Blago's appointment, they can simply turn right around and expel him. Article I, Section 5, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution is crystal clear:

Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.

This clause would only come into play if (1) senators run out the clock on delay tactics, and (2) are forced to take a vote on seating Blago's appointment, presumably denying him, and (3) the courts then overturn their decision to block seating Blago's appointment.

At that point, they would either give up the fight and accept the appointment, or they would exercise their powers under clause 2 and expel him.

The point here is that the senate does in fact have the power to block Blago's appointment, one way or the other.

If that should come to pass, one might be tempted to feel bad for Roland Burris. But the truth is, he accepted the appointment of a man who is effectively trying to return stolen goods. No matter how distinguished his career may have been, that's an act of very bad judgment.

Original post:

There's some debate about whether or not the Senate has the power to block Blago's appointment. But Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution is crystal clear:

Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.

Even if Blago's appointment is seated, he'll be immediately expelled on the very next motion to hit the floor, because both Democrats and Republicans agree that he should not serve in the Senate.

(Update, 4:26PM: Theoretically, Republicans could decide to support Blago's appointment, but that would be a political disaster for them.)

One might feel bad for the guy, but then again, he probably should have had the good judgment not to accept Blago's appointment in the first place.

The Senate Can Block Blago's Appointment

Update (7:17PM): I've written a more thorough version of this post for Daily Kos, copied below.

There's some debate about whether or not the Senate has the power to block Blago's appointment. But even if they don't have the power to block the appointment, they do have the power to delay seating Burris.

If worse comes to worse, and they both cannot delay any longer and are forced to seat Blago Blago's appointment, they can simply turn right around and expel him. Article I, Section 5, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution is crystal clear:

Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.

This clause would only come into play if (1) senators run out the clock on delay tactics, and (2) are forced to take a vote on seating Blago's appointment, presumably denying him, and (3) the courts then overturn their decision to block seating Blago's appointment.

At that point, they would either give up the fight and accept the appointment, or they would exercise their powers under clause 2 and expel him.

The point here is that the senate does in fact have the power to block Blago's appointment, one way or the other.

If that should come to pass, one might be tempted to feel bad for Roland Burris. But the truth is, he accepted the appointment of a man who is effectively trying to return stolen goods. No matter how distinguished his career may have been, that's an act of very bad judgment.

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