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document updated 16 years ago, on Dec 16, 2008

Blagojevich is currently the only person who can choose the replacement for Obama's senate seat. There are five ways this can play out:

1. Blagojevich could, at any time, appoint himself or someone else to the Senate. If he tried to appoint himself, and was actually successful, he would resign as governor, and thus avoid impeachment in Illinois. There are a number of possible responses to any appointment by him:
   • Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White could refuse to certify Blagojevich's choice.
   • The Senate has clearly stated they'll refuse to seat a Blagojevich apointee, but it's not clear they can do that.
   • The House and Senate could try to impeach the appointed senator, but it's an open question if that's possible.
   
   
2. The Illinois legislature is trying to change Illinois law to say that Senate replacements are chosen by popular vote, rather than by the governor (see Amendment 17). However, Blagojevich could sit on the bill for 60 days before vetoing it, and in the meantime could still appoint himself or anyone else.
   • though Blagojevich says he might be willing to sign it
   
   
3. The Illinois legislature has begun impeachment procedings. Unlike the other options, Blagojevich wouldn't be able to slow this process down, so it's seen as one of the quickest options.
   
   
4. Blagojevich could voluntarily resign, but Magic 8-Ball says:  Don't count on it.
   • "Talk of impeachment is nothing new to the governor" [Dec 15]
   • Not only was Mr. Blagojevich not resigning, the spokesman, Lucio Guerrero, said, but he was planning to go to work on Monday and study a few bills [Dec 14]
   • Blagojevich's lawyer, Sheldon Sorosky, has said the governor is not guilty and won't step down [Dec 11]
   • "At the end of the day, the top priority for our office is to serve the people, and we have not lost sight of that, nor will we lose sight of that," said spokesman Kelley Quinn, calling it "business as usual" [Dec 10]
   
   
5. Lisa Madigan has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to temporarily remove Blagojevich from his office (People v. Rod Blagojevich), under various novel legal ideas. This would allow the next in line (Pat Quinn) to appoint a replacement and then possibly return power to Blagojevich.