Pro-Abortion Roland Burris Files Lawsuit to Replace Barack Obama in Senate
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 1, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Roland Burris, a pro-abortion former Illinois official, has filed a lawsuit in state court to make it so he can replace Barack Obama in the Senate. Embattled pro-abortion Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed Burris to replace Obama but the Senate won’t seat him because of the pay-to-play scandal involving the governor.
Blagojevich, who has been accused of trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat, appointed Burris, a former state attorney general, earlier this week.
The appointment would allow Burris to complete the final two years on Obama’s Senate term, but the Senate says it won’t approve him and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White says he won’t seal the appointment to make it official.
In response, Burris has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to force White to certify the appointment and to prevent Senate Democrats from using the lack of certification as a reason to bar Burris from serving in Washington.
According to a Politico report, Senate Democratic leaders have a secondary plan and, if the Illinois court mandates the certification, they will likely ask the Senate Rules Committee to examine whether the appointment was ethical or if it should be dismissed because Blagojevich made it.
“A motion to refer credentials to the committee has the effect of delaying seating,” a Senate aide told the news web site. "The motion is debatable and amendable.”
That would give the Senate 90 days to stall the appointment — keeping the seat vacant and giving abortion advocates one less vote on key issues that could come up in the early part of the next Congressional session.
That delay could allow the Senate to wait for the governor’s possible impeachment or indictment and resignation and allow for his potential successor, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, to appoint someone else.
According to sources who talked with Politico, Quinn would likely appoint an African-American to the position and Dan Seals, a former Chicago-area state legislative candidate, is a possibility.
Quinn is said to want not a caretaker figure like Burris but someone who can run for the full-term in a 2010 election against a Republican candidate and keep the seat.
If he takes the Senate seat, Burris would be a sure vote for abortion advocates.
During his tenure as the state’s top attorney, he came under criticism from pro-life advocates for determining that the state’s anti-stalking law is gender-neutral and declaring that it could be used to prosecute pro-life advocates who offer information to women outside an abortion center.
Burris was also accused of twisting the law to prosecute pro-life sidewalk counselors to curry favor with abortion advocates prior to a bid for governor.
Burris also watered down an anti-infanticide law that was contentious in the presidential campaign.
During the presidential debate, Obama came under fire for repeatedly voting against an Illinois version of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act while he was a state legislator.
Lawmakers put forward the bill because existing law had lost its effectiveness in making sure newborns who survive failed abortions or are purposefully born prematurely receive adequate medical care.
Chicago-area nurse Jill Stanek had exposed the practice at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn where babies were left in soiled utility rooms to die instead of receiving treatment.
Burris rendered the state’s born alive law unenforceable by signing a consent decree.
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