Shorter Blagojevich: "I appoint me as Senator!"

No, no, no, this isn’t Breaking News! This is merely the perambulations of this particular idle mind. *g*

Seriously though, what if Blagojevich actually did this? Too far-fetched you say? Hold onto your horses ’cause I don’t think so!

Here are the options as I see them right now for Blagojevich:

1. Resign.
2. Get impeached by the Illinois legislature.
3. Get declared "unfit" by the Illinois Supreme Court courtesy of the Illinois Attorney General.
4. Appoint himself to Obama’s vacant Senate seat.

Now if you were Blagojevich (oh nooes!) and were facing the loss of your job with few no prospects for gainful employment; not even flipping burgers at Burger Queen, which choice would you make?

If you were Blagojevich (oh nooes!) and were facing a forced vacation in The Blues Brothers’ digs at Joliet, might you not instead prefer while you await your trial and conviction, the more blissful surroundings of cherry blossoms, K Street lobbyists with oodles of cash to throw at you, and the wee bit of groping pages in the Senate cloakroom (gender neutral of course)?

If you were Blagojevich (oh nooes!), a man that has now received TradeMed appellations of "crazy", "demented", and "out of his mind", what choice would fit your self-serving modus operandi?

Yes, "I appoint me as Senator!" would seem to be Blagojevich’s obvious choice. After all, what’s not to like?

You get the media attention you deserve crave.
You get a pretty good salary ($169,300 per annum) plus all those great bennies; a great pension plan, health care, the Senate gym, dining room, and of course, that fabled cloakroom.

But…but…but you say, doesn’t the Senate have the authority to refuse to seat any Senator and wouldn’t they be appalled by Blagojevich’s "I appoint me as Senator!" hijinks?

Yes, but…*g*

A couple of points:

Yes, the Senate, via their Constitutional authority under Article I, Section 5, to determine whether such a person should be seated, can indeed refuse to seat any Senator.

However per The Volokh Conspiracy:

But Supreme Court precedent suggests "no": The Court held in Powell v. McCormack (1969), that "in judging the qualifications of its members Congress is limited to the standing qualifications prescribed in the Constitution," such as age and citizenship. Now perhaps the Senators are right and the Court was wrong, and perhaps today’s Court would overrule Powell. But at least at this point, Powell seems to make clear that under Article I, Section 5 the Senate may determine whether the Senator should be seated solely based on the objective qualifications that the Constitution prescribes, and not based on its judgment whether Gov. Blagojevich ought to be entitled to make the appointment.

Additionally, as I understand it, a 2/3 majority vote is required to refuse to seat another Senator. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that our typically obstructionistic Senate Republicans would prefer to vote to keep a skunk in the Democratic tent than to refuse to seat said skunk.

This post was initially contemplated in jest, but having written it out, I’m no longer quite sure that it remains a laughing matter.

It actually could happen.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!