Here in Illinois where there’s a will there’s a way. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan may speed Gov. Blagojevich’s departure by taking the matter to the Illinois Supreme Court:
SPRINGFIELD — If Gov. Blagojevich refuses to relinquish power and avoids impeachment, Attorney General Lisa Madigan is prepared to force his hand, aides said Tuesday.
The state’s chief law enforcement officer is prepared to invoke an obscure Illinois Supreme Court rule under which the state’s seven justices could vote to oust a sitting governor deemed unfit for office.
“The attorney general is prepared to take action but believes the Legislature should have a reasonable time to act,” Madigan spokeswoman Natalie Bauer said.
Bauer did not specify a timeline for Blagojevich to resign or for the House and Senate to act on impeachment before she would get involved.
The state Constitution doesn’t explicitly indicate an officeholder can be ousted by the court or by impeachment if that person faces criminal charges. Instead, the Constitution uses terms such as “failure to qualify” or “disability” in laying out causes to impeach someone.
The Supreme Court rule allowing justices to wade into the issue of gubernatorial fitness is even less defined, saying only that the court has authority to determine “the ability of the governor to serve.”
I’m sure the state legislature would appreciate being let off the hook. I’m not sure they should be.
I’ll admit that I like Lisa Madigan and think she’s been a decent Attorney General (if only by comparison with the dysfunctional state house). However, it continues to gall me that she’s the daughter of Mike Madigan, the Speaker of the Illinois House and Gov. Blagojevich’s foremost legislative opponent. Folks, nepotism is part of the problem here, not the solution. Are there no competent lawyers in the state that aren’t related to prominent politicians?
Of course there are competent lawyers in the state, but the A.G. position is really only a stepping stone to seek the Governorship or a position on the Illinois Supreme Court. So we’re not talking about lawyers as much as politicians that have law degrees. And that class is stretched pretty thin over the three branches of government, at the local, state and federal levels.
I think there’s also a crowding-out effect, PD. When elective office is as tightly in the control of a few family lines as it has become here, particularly in recent years, it tends to discourage people who might otherwise consider taking a flyer.