BREAKING-IL Supreme Court issues stay on Emanuel ruling

[jenmito]

Per MSNBC. So his name WILL be on the ballot.

[Very_Boring_Name]

1. Oooooh boy, can't wait to see how all the gloaters from yesterday will take this

I can't imagine they'll be happy :rofl:

[jenmito]

3. Same here!

My guess is there will be many unrecs. :D

[young but wise]

5. LOL

[lamp_shade]

2. Yessssssssss

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

4. His name might still be on the ballot, but the appeal will decide if he is elligable.

Just because his name is on the ballot does not mean that, when the dust settles, he is actually eligable.
Personally, I'd love to see him win the election and then be declared ineligable duting the appeal.
I loves me some drama.

[Perky]

39. Dream on. Nobody is going to nullify the result of the election

The runner-up is not simply going to be handed the keys to City Hall and by the time the appeal process winds down to its own conclusion and they have to call a new election. Rahm will meet the Eligibility requirements

If he is on the ballot...and he wins the election He will see be mayor until they roll him out with a sheet covering him.

[AtomicKitten]

6. Keeping his name on the ballot was key.

He's waaaaaaaaaaay ahead of the other contenders so it would be tragic if he got knocked off the ballot over residency issues.

[flpoljunkie]

7. Just heard from Andrea MItchell that they feared how this appellate court would rule, so they had

their appeal ready. Very interesting. Like Rahm, or not, to rule he's not a resident of Chicago is absurd on its face.

[AngryAmish]

9. To be eligible to run you must both be a resident AND live here

That is what the law says. Good law? That is debatable. But the letter of the law says in essence you must be eligible to vote AND actually live here.

He did not live here. His actual abode (where he went to at night) was in DC. He did not have any interest in real estate that allowed him live at the house he owned (someone else purchased the right to live there ie rented the place).

So no decisions have been made yet.

[mkultra]

11. i guess that depends on what it means to live somewhere

especially when public service is involved. I guess deployed military should lose the right to vote and run in their home state until they have been back for a year.

[AngryAmish]

14. States decide who can and can't run.

The law is what the law is. We cannot change the law retrospectively. BTW, if you would have read the opinion he did not lose his right to vote and military people don't either. But to run one has to be eligible to vote AND actually live here.

[mkultra]

28. my point really is more about travel vs residency

To me, even a person who travels for work all year round resides where ever his "home" is.

[AngryAmish]

29. THat we agree upon

In this case wee Rahm lives in DC. Or at least did not live in Chicago. That is undisputed even by little R. The half-pint's argument is he intended to return after his service was over. But the law says you must have a domicile even if you are in the military. You can't have a domicile if rent out your house since you can't live there - you sold that property interest.

Honestly, read the opinion. It is pretty clear in there.

[golfguru]

37. Rahm's job was not in Chicago, he had a permanent job in DC

and a permanent leased home in DC.

[frazzled]

15. The law does not say that.

In any way shape or form. In fact, Judge Hoffman actually reverses his OWN previous precedent.

Tribune editorial today:

The two appellate justices twisted themselves into a pretzel to come up with an argument to disqualify him. Insisting that they had "no Supreme Court directive" on which to rely and hanging their hat on an interpretation found in a case they acknowledge "lacks precedential force," the justices decided that the phrase "resided in" has one meaning when applied to voters and another when applied to candidates.

This distinction, Lampkin notes, "is a figment of the majority's imagination" and "a standard that the majority just conjured out of thin air." In the process, the justices disregarded a case that has guided residency rulings for 122 years, she wrote.

"An opinion of such wide-ranging import and not based on established law but, rather, on the whims of two judges, should not be allowed to stand," Lampkin wrote. Amen.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-rahm-20110124,0,848590.story

[jenmito]

16. Thanks for setting that straight. n/t

[flpoljunkie]

27. Very nice! Thanks!

[AtomicKitten]

10. This scenario explains why the wingnuts pack the courts but are dragging their feet

on Pres O's judicial nominations. The politicization of our courts at all levels just reeks. Cheney was able to judge-shop ultimately finding one amenable to keeping his Energy Commission records secret. Ugh.

[jenmito]

8. Yup...

they got the stay just in time to get his name printed on the ballots for early voting. This is a huge deal.

[AtomicKitten]

12. I guess they started printing ballots last night but the stay requires he be on the ballot.

Court Issues Stay, Keeping Rahm Emanuel on the Ballot

Jan 25 2011, 1:25 PM ET By Garance Franke-Ruta

The Illinois Supreme Court has issued a stay allowing Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel to remain on the ballot after a lower court deemed him ineligible for office Monday.

That's a very good sign for the Emanuel campaign, and a move the court would have been unlikely to make were they not planning to take up his appeal of the lower court decision.

All ballots printed during the period of the stay will have to have Emanuel's name on them; ballot printing had begun last night without it.

[jenmito]

20. So I guess this means that those ballots already printed are invalid? n/t

[AtomicKitten]

22. Good question.

(CNN) - The Illinois Supreme Court has granted a stay on Monday's appeals court ruling that held Rahm Emanuel was ineligible to be a Chicago mayoral candidate, and ordered that any ballots printed include his name while the case is pending.

I'm guessing the ones printed last night have been rendered invalid by this ruling.

[jenmito]

23. Thanks...

it looks clear that any that may have been printed without his name will be invalidated.

[GinaMaria]

26. wouldn't be tragic if you live in Chicago

I would take a drunk monkey for mayor before Rahm. We are screwed. The Daley machine will look like hand crank coffee grinder in comparison to the machine we will get with Rahm.

[frazzled]

13. 2 Judges who ruled him ineligible yesterday had ties to (candidate) Chico

They owe their positions on the bench to Chicago's longest serving alderman (ward boss) Ed Burke (he was the main opponent of Harold Washington's candidacy back in the day). And his wife Anne sits on the Supreme Court! Lest you think this is NOT Chicago politics as usual, think again:

The two Appellate Court judges responsible for tossing Rahm Emanuel from the ballot in February's mayoral race both won their jobs after being anointed by a Chicago political power broker who openly supports an Emanuel opponent.

Whether or not their opinions are colored by politics, the case has recharged the debate among critics who decry a process of selecting judges that relies more heavily on political clout than merit.

Longtime Appellate Court Judges Thomas E. Hoffman and Shelvin Louise Marie Hall — who on Monday ruled that Emanuel's stay in Washington precludes him from running for mayor this year — were both judicial candidates slated for election by the Cook County Democratic Party judicial slating committee chaired by Ald. Edward Burke, 14th.

Burke, one of Chicago's most powerful politicians, holds huge sway in the election of judges at every level, including the Illinois Supreme Court, where his wife, Anne, sits as a justice and where the Emanuel ballot question is now headed for a final decision.

Burke has openly supported another candidate, Gery Chico, for mayor. A recent Tribune poll showed Chico badly trailing Emanuel.

"The real question now is whether Anne Burke must recuse herself," said Malcolm Rich, executive director of the Chicago Council of Lawyers, a group that evaluates judges and advocates reform. "Yes, there is an inherent conflict. These judges are slated by politicians. That is just the way it is.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/elections/ct-met-slated-judges-20110124,0,3891974.story

So, longtime boss Ed Burke, who has openly endorsed Gery Chico for mayor, was the one who slated both judges from the appellate court who overturned the lower court's judgement on eligibility. And his wife sits of the Supreme Court. Tricky, tricky.

You should also read the Trib's editorial today:

With startling arrogance and audaciously twisted reasoning, two appellate judges ignored more than 100 years of legal precedent, invented a new definition of "residency" and ordered Rahm Emanuel off the Feb. 22 mayoral ballot.

With the election just four weeks away, the appellate panel voted 2-1 to reverse the decisions of the Chicago Board of Elections and a Circuit Court judge. It's an adventurous, flawed ruling that has immediate and profound consequences. The case is headed to the Illinois Supreme Court, but the ballots are headed to the printer — without Emanuel's name. Early voting begins Monday.

In a blistering dissent, Appellate Justice Bertina E. Lampkin accused her colleagues, Thomas E. Hoffman and Shelvin Louise Marie Hall, of "careless disregard for the law," and harshly criticized them for refusing to ask the Supreme Court for an expedited review.

Lampkin accused the majority of ignoring case law that clearly supported Emanuel's argument —including a significant case in which Hoffman prevailed.

"The majority's new standard is ill-reasoned and unfair to the candidate, voters and those of us who are charged with applying the law," Lampkin wrote. The decision "disenfranchises not just this particular candidate but every voter in Chicago who would consider voting for him."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-rahm-20110124,0,848590.story

[AngryAmish]

17. Do you realize 95% of the judges in Cook County are slated by the Cook County Democratic Party?

And 100% of the appellate justices are slated by that same committee?

In reality you do have to kiss Ed Burke's ring to get on the slate the first time (and donate a pile of cash to the party). Once win there is a retention election every ten years or so - which is a rubber stamp. Once you are on the bench you stay there until you want out.

The guy who wrote the opinion is Tom Hoffman. He is the best appellate judge in the state. Really knows the law. You are saying that Ed Burke called him up and told him what to do. Well, that is absurd. Utterly absurd. What can Ed Burke do to him? Nothing.

[frazzled]

24. The Tribune wrote the story, not me

And it was a shot across the bow to his wife.

Yes, Ed Burke has run everything in this city since 1969. He runs the courts. He supports Chico. Ergo, Possum.

[former9thward]

18. There are no independent judges in Cook County (Chicago).

All have ties to the Daley machine. That is the only way you can get elected there.

[mopinko]

33. i think you are exactly correct.

i was at a fundraiser last night for my alderman, with lots of politicos, and the consensus was that eddie burke was pulling the strings on this one.

[bvar22]

19. Well, Of Course!

Yes, Virginia.
There ARE Two Americas.

[jenmito]

21. What do you mean by that? n/t

[BeyondGeography]

25. Good; the alternative would have been absurd

[Phx_Dem]

30. Good. Best of luck, Rahm!

[mucifer]

31. I have mixed feelings about Rham being on the ballot and I am not going to vote for him.

[jenmito]

34. "Rham" ISN'T on the ballot. Rahm is. n/t

[mucifer]

36. oops well I'm not voting for him either

[jenmito]

38. Darn. I thought there may have been a "Rham" that you were talking about.

[annabanana]

32. heh. .

Whatta circus.

[msanthrope]

35. Has anyone considered the impact of the appellate court on the Homeless?

I ask because having skimmed the opinion, I am a bit confused as to the status of the homeless....

I haven't had time to read the opinion in depth--any body else????