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Sunday, December 14, 2008
Law - Law prof gives Illinois AG's brief a "C-"
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS V. ROD BLAGOJEVICH, GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has posted online The People's filings to the Illinois Supreme Court in the effort to remove the Illinois Governor. Access them here.
William A. Jacobson, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School, has reviewed the arguments and given them a "C-'. Here is a quote from his blog entry:
The constitutional provision at issue is Article V, Section VI(b) of the Illinois Constitution, which provides as follows:If the Governor is unable to serve because of death,conviction on impeachment, failure to qualify, resignation or other disability, the office of Governor shall be filled by the officer next in line of succession for the remainder of the term or until the disability is removed.The Illinois Attorney General has taken what she acknowledges to be an unprecedented step in asking the Illinois Supreme Court to declare a sitting Governor "unable to serve" because of a non-physical "disability." That "disability" according to the AG is (a) the inability of the Governor to put the interests of the State ahead of his own political interests; (b) accusations of criminal and unethical behavior which have caused other politicians to call on him to resign; (c) operational issues regarding state government caused by the foregoing. This argument is extraordinarily weak, and for grading purposes, is not well presented.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 14, 2008 07:20 PM
Posted to General Law Related