Madigan asks state Supreme Court to declare Blagojevich unfit

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan moved to ask the Illinois Supreme Court to oust Gov. Rod Blagojevich, arguing he can "no longer fulfill his official duties with any legitimacy."

All eyes are now on the state's Supreme Court justices as they weigh whether to even hear Madigan's argument to seat Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn as the state's chief executive and strip the governor of his powers.

Madigan said she doesn't know when the justices may make a decision, but she anticipated it could come "soon."

Madigan's filing, which she announced in a downtown news conference shortly before noon, is the strongest move yet taken to oust the sitting governor since his arrest Tuesday on sweeping federal corruption charges that allege he was caught on tape trying to sell a U.S. Senate, legislation, state grants and state help with Wrigley Field for personal profit.

Meanwhile, Blagojevich has made moves to indicate he has little intention of resigning and may even move forward with signing legislation today. A pastor who met with him this morning said the governor is also contemplating setting up a legal and political consultation team moving forward.

At the same time, lawmakers are discussing whether or not to press forward with impeachment proceedings against Blagojevich, who has not made any public statements since his arrest early Tuesday morning.

Madigan said she supports those efforts, but knows it could take weeks or months for that process to work.

Madigan is using an obscure rule that outlines the justices ability to oust a sitting governor if the chief executive can't perform the duties of the office.

"The attorney general is moving into untested ground with this motion," said Robert F. Rich, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. "It will be extremely interesting to see how the Supreme Court reacts."

Standards for the rule have not been set and Madigan acknowledged the rule, in existence since the early 1970s, has never been used to remove a governor.

"The Illinois Supreme Court could do virtually anything," under the rule, Madigan said at a hastily called afternoon news conference in downtown Chicago.

Madigan, however, faced questions about her own political stake in the court's decisions. She has expressed interest in running for governor in 2010 and Quinn has floated her name as a possible choice for President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat should he take over the reigns of the state.

Madigan is the daughter of powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat and chief nemesis of Blagojevich.

Madigan said this afternoon that politics didn't play a role in her decision to go to the Supreme Court.

"Political issues and political matters are not even on my radar screen," she said.

The two-term attorney general also said she supports moves by lawmakers to hold a special election for the Senate seat.

Madigan's move to strip the governor of his authority came after it became clear Blagojevich was showing no signs he might step down.

Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero told the Daily Herald Thursday that the governor may sign a health care measure, among other pieces of legislation, as early as today. He is also moving forward with a massive borrowing plan to pay a backlog of bills owed to schools and health care providers, Guerrero said.

"He wants to make sure that state government continues to operate," Guerrero said.

The governor has been alternately holed up in his home or his downtown office since his arrest on federal corruption charges. He met with clergymen at his North Side home on Friday morning.

The Rev. Ira Acree of the Greater St. John Bible Church said Blagojevich discussed trying to get a legal and political consultation team in place, but feels as if everything is closing in on him and that he's not getting "any space or chance to sort anything out."

Acree and two other pastors - The Rev. Steve Jones, president of the Baptist Pastor's Conference, and the Rev. Marshall Hatch of the New Mt. Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church - met with Blagojevich for about 20 minutes this morning.

Jones said they prayed with Blagojevich and his family.

"I look at it like this: Everybody that's hurting needs hope and the family needs hope and that's what our jobs are as pastors," Jones said. "Nobody should be left hopeless. Nobody, no matter what the circumstances."

Shortly after they left, a fourth minister, the Rev. Leonard Barr of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, arrived at the governor's house with his wife, Rita.

He said they were invited by the governor and that the two "prayed that he would continue to be a great governor for the state of Illinois."

Meanwhile, calls for the governor to step down are intensifying. The lieutenant governor has joined a bevy of lawmakers in demanding that Blagojevich be impeached, saying he has become an embarrassment to the state and can no longer lead. His approval rating plummeted to a shockingly low 8 percent.

"When you have no confidence from the people, in a democracy there's nowhere else to go but to resign," Lt. Pat Quinn said Thursday

Daily Herald Senior State Government Editor John Patterson and news services contributed to this report.

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