Illinois Moves to Impeach Rod Blagojevich

The Impeachment Process Explained

Dec 20, 2008 David J. Shestokas

The arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has created a chorus of officials calling for his resignation. The Governor has vowed to fight.

The Illinois Supreme Court rejected Attorney General Madigan’s effort to have him removed with a never before employed Supreme Court rule.

Blagojevich’s arrest on federal criminal corruption charges does not by itself disqualify him from holding office. One allegation is the attempted sale of Barack Obama's Senate seat. A conviction on those charges would result in a disqualification and removal from office. The criminal process moves very slowly and at this point the governor has yet to be indicted; he was arrested by way of a criminal complaint.. The felony criminal process will likely take years.

Governor May Step Aside Temporarily

The governor may voluntarily remove himself temporarily from office. Article V, Sec. 6(c) allows the governor to do this by notifying the Secretary of State and the next in line, which at this moment is Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn. The governor may resume his office by the same notification. Base upon the governor’s recent public statements this does not seem to be a likely scenario. The only other manner to remove an Illinois governor is by impeachment and conviction.

The Illinois Constitution on Impeachment

The Illinois Constitution provides for impeachment in Art. IV, Sec. 14 as follows:

“SECTION 14. IMPEACHMENT

The House of Representatives has the sole power to conduct legislative investigations to determine the existence of cause for impeachment and, by the vote of a majority of the members elected, to impeach Executive and Judicial officers. Impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. When sitting for that purpose, Senators shall be upon oath, or affirmation, to do justice according to law. If the Governor is tried, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senators elected. Judgment shall not extend beyond removal from office and disqualification to hold any public office of this State. An impeached officer,whether convicted or acquitted, shall be liable to prosecution, trial, judgment and punishment according to law.”

Illinois Impeachment Only Used Once Before

Impeachment is a seldom-used power which begins the process of removing an elected official from office. It has actually only been used once in the history of Illinois in 1832 involving Justice Theophilus W. Smith of the Illinois Supreme Court. Justice Smith was impeached by the Illinois House, but was not convicted by the Illinois Senate. Unlike the US Constitution which gives some guidance as to grounds for impeachment, (high crimes and misdemeanors) the Illinois Constitution does not require any specific reasons to justify the impeachment of an official. It is a quasi-judicial process conducted by a political body.

The Impeachment Process

The process begins in the House of Representatives with an investigation. The House acts somewhat like a grand jury. It gathers evidence, and based upon that evidence determines charges against the elected official. Those charges are brought before the entire House. If a majority of the House votes in favor of the charges of wrong-doing against an elected official, the official is considered impeached. The term impeachment refers to the bringing of charges.

After the House of Representatives votes for impeachment, the Senate begins consideration of the impeachment charges. A process much like a courtroom trial takes place in the Senate. The Senate adopts special rules of procedure for the impeachment trial. The Senate then hears evidence from witnesses brought in to testify under oath regarding the impeachment charges. In the case of the impeachment of a Governor, the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court is the presiding officer.

A conviction on the impeachment charges occurs when a two-thirds majority in the Senate votes to convict the official of the charges. The only penalty that can be imposed on the impeached official by the Senate is removal from office and disqualification to hold future public office in Illinois. If there is any associated criminal conduct, prosecution with criminal penalties would need to be by the appropriate law enforcement agency.

The copyright of the article Illinois Moves to Impeach Rod Blagojevich in Law, Crime & Justice is owned by David J. Shestokas. Permission to republish Illinois Moves to Impeach Rod Blagojevich in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn

Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan

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Comments

Jan 25, 2009 5:12 AM

Guest :

Will the impeached governor lose his pension?

Jan 25, 2009 12:53 PM

David J. Shestokas :

The Illinois Constitution reads as follows: "Judgment shall not extend beyond removal from office and disqualification to hold any public office of this State." Based upon that constitutional provision it appears that whatever pension benefits Blagojevich has accrued would not be removed by virture of his impeachment.

Jan 25, 2009 2:59 PM

Guest :

Could you add some further clarification regarding pension? Will the governor only collect what he has put in, or will he continue to receive a pension benefit? I find it hard to believe that impeachment would not constitute some type of forfeiture of benefits. How likely would it be for the Illinois legislature to do something about it?

Jan 29, 2009 4:19 AM

David J. Shestokas :

The Illinois Constitution provides the only penalties for impeachment are removal from office and a ban on holding public office in Illinois, leaving earned pension benefits intact. If later Blagojevich is convicted of criminal activity related to his official duties, then his pension benefits would be forfeit. That is what happened to former Governor Ryan after he was convicted of crimes related to his Illinois offices.

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