Regardless of what anyone thinks of Gov. Blago of Illiniois, he remains the Governor and therefore retains all the powers of the office undiminished in any way.  It is very clear that he has full authority to appoint anyone who is qualified to the vacancy Obama's departure from the Senate has brought about.  There is simply no getting around the fact that the Governor has acted lawfully in appointing a new Senator and that both the Illinois Secretary of State and the United States Senate are in open defiance of the law by refusing to recognize Senator Burris as a Senator which he clearly is.  The idea that if they just ignore Burris until an indictment comes down provides no legal cover for them.  Even if Blago is impeached or resigns he has already appointed Burris and the next Governor will not have any legal authority to make an appointment to fill that seat.

If we are, as has often been claimed, "a nation of laws and not of men" then it seems to me that as unctious and even unpalatable as it might be to have Roland Burris take his lawful place in the US Senate, he must be seated.  It is important to abide by the law.  To refuse to seat Senator Burris is an act in open defiance of the law.  We Democrats have been vocal in our protestations about the unlawful acts of the Bush regime for years now.  We cannot now throw out our concerns about the rule of law simply because of the political scandal swirling around the Governor of Illinois.  The Senate Democrats' refusal to seat Senator Burris is really nothing more than disgraceful political manuevering.

Roland Burris is a decent public servant and should be sworn in and given all the respect and authority of the office of Senator without delay.  The more political gamesmanship the Democrats engage in on this matter, the worse it will be for them in the long run.  As usual, the overly calculating DC Dems are going to create more problems for themsleves down the road with all their games than they would have had to deal with if they simply had seated the new Senator as is their duty.