Badly burying Burris

Senate Democrats should be ashamed of themselves, and Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is the shamer-in-chief.

On the day of the Senate’s swearing-in ceremony – celebrating Senate wins in red states like Alaska and North Carolina – Reid and his cronies turned their backs on Roland Burris, the man legally appointed to sit in the seat held until recently by President-elect Barack Obama.

I have already laid out why Burris is a good choice, but right now, that’s irrelevant. What matters is that the appointment of Burris is 100 percent legal. As Burris himself stated, his only crime is being appointed by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Reid’s excuse for not seating Burris is that Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White has not signed off on the appointment. While it is true that White has not certified the appointment, that’s a red herring. The Illinois secretary of state does not have the legal power to block a gubernatorial appointment.

As Burris told CBS News: “As I read the U.S. Constitution, [the] governor shall fill a vacancy, and as a former attorney general of my state, I have no knowledge of where a secretary of state has veto power over a governor carrying out his constitutional duties.”

Oddly enough, Democrats don’t have a problem with Blagojevich’s power to order a special election to fill the seat held by Chicago Congressman Rahm Emmanuel, soon to be Obama’s chief of staff. To argue that Blagojevich can legally carry out his gubernatorial responsibilities regarding Emmanuel’s seat, but not do the same for Obama’s seat, is inconsistent, disingenuous, and dishonest.

Even Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the powerful California Democrat, has reportedly said that Senate Democrats do not have a legal leg to stand on regarding Burris. "Does the governor have the power, under law, to make the appointment? And the answer is yes," Feinstein told Fox News. "If you don't seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America."

And after all, at the ceremony that turned its back on Burris, Joe Biden was sworn back into his Delaware senate seat that he will give up in two weeks time when he becomes vice president. If they can swear Biden in just so he can leave, certainly Reid and his buddies can welcome Burris to his rightful – and legal – place as the junior senator from Illinois.