Campaign to Contain Blagojevich Hits Roadblocks

[addam]

Not So Fast? Campaign to Contain Blagojevich Hits Roadblocks
The case against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich grows more complicated as events demonstrate that he can't be cowed as easily as U.S. senators and the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case would like.
U.S. senators are in for a major fight if they intend to follow through with threats to bar Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appointment from replacing President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate next week, say legal scholars, political analysts and even some elected officials.

The current 50-member Senate Democratic caucus had urged Blagojevich not to appoint former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to the job while Blagojevich is under the cloud of a possible indictment and impeachment for allegedly trying to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder. He ignored the request.

Now the entire campaign to de-legitimize Blagojevich is getting harder for U.S. senators and the U.S. attorney handling the case to make, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley and others told FOXNews.com.

"There is no question that (Burris) is the legitimate successor to Barack Obama. There is no controversy here as a matter of law. The controversy is purely political. People simply don't like the governor who appointed him," Turley said.

The difficulty in trying to limit Blagojevich's authority was underscored twice in the past two days -- once when Blagojevich defied lawmakers to appoint Obama's replacement, and again when U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald requested a rare 90-day extension to seek an indictment against Blagojevich.

Fitzgerald said the holiday season had limited the dates and times that prosecutors could present evidence to a grand jury, and that the investigators still had to review "multiple witnesses" who have come forward as well as thousands of intercepted phone calls. After years of investigation, he said the 30 days usually allotted to bring an indictment against a defendant was insufficient.

The motion seems to conflict with the portrait of the rock-solid case Fitzgerald presented at his press conference on Dec. 9, Turley said.

"I'm surprised by it, because at the press conference he made this out to be the world's strongest criminal case," he said.

Yet Blagojevich holds on to power and still has the legal authority to appoint a replacement -- he retained this authority after the Illinois General Assembly rejected the idea of holding a special election.