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UPDATE: Burris will be seated in the Senate, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Recalling the case of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., former congressman Andrew Jacobs, Jr. says the Constitution could not be clearer: the Senate has no right to reject Roland Burris.
Will Roland Burris become the next Senator from Illinois, replacing president-elect Barack Obama? The former state Attorney General arrives in Washington today to meet with Congressional leaders amid widespread speculation that they will refuse to recognize his appointment by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But the Constitution is just as clear on his claim to the seat as it was in the case of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., 40 years ago.
I became exceptionally well versed in this claim because I was drafted onto the congressional committee weighing the fate of the distinguished member from Harlem.
Before the advent of Martin Luther King, Jr, Adam Clayton Powell was arguably the most prominent embodiment of the civil rights movement in the U. S. He was handsome and brilliant, with a deep, thunderous voice that shook the rafters of the House and a wit that cuttingly dispatched the considerably large racist block of Congresspeople who were foolish enough to engage him in debate.
Members who voted down the measure told me privately afterward that they knew we were right, but that a vote to seat would mean their own un-seating in the next election.
But he was also, as often described, "big in big things and little in little things." He got caught swiping airline tickets to take his girlfriend for Caribbean trysts, and when he was reelected in 1966 the members refused to seat him. Then the House empanelled a select committee to make recommendations on Powell’s status before the general swearing-in for the 90th Congress in January 1967.
No member wanted to sit on that committee. "Only someone passionately interested in political suicide would accept that assignment," I was told by a colleague I met in the airport as I was boarding a plane back to my district. But as soon as I arrived in Indianapolis, I received a call from Speaker John McCormack asking me to serve. Recalling the airport advice, I hesitated but said, "Sounds like jury duty, Sir. I'll do it."
A few days after the news media reported my appointment, I got a letter from publisher Bobbs-Merrill soliciting a manuscript about what went on behind those closed doors, adding that no such record had ever been made before.
So during the weeks-long closed sessions, I imitated Truman Capote’s methods, feverishly scratching out direct quotations in my own, invented short-hand, then racing back to the office each evening to type up the fresh material from my yellow legal pad. When the book—The Powell Affair : Freedom Minus One—was published, my fellow committee members were amazed by the accuracy of their quotations. At the time, they just had impression that I was working too hard on the case. They didn't know that I had two assignments.
The Constitution clearly sets out the qualifications one must have to serve in the Senate: at least 30 years of age, nine years a citizen of the U.S. and an "inhabitant" of the relevant state. The committee ruled—as the Supreme Court would later affirm in Powell v. McCormick—that Congress had no authority to expand those qualifications, and it recommended seating Powell. The House leaders on both sides also spoke for the seating. Adam, himself, was a tad histrionic when his magnificent voice declared his fellow members were a bunch of hypocrites.
In the end, the committee recommendation was rejected by eighteen votes. Those members who chose to obey their oaths of office and support the Constitution with a « yes » vote were generally Northern Republicans and Democrats. Those in opposition tended to be Southern Members of both parties – along with a number of members afraid to do the right thing. More than the eighteen members who voted down the measure told me privately afterward that they knew we were right, but that a vote to seat would mean their own un-seating in the next election.
Tracy Quan's latest novel is Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl, set in Provence and praised in The Nation as a "deft account of occupational rigors and anxieties before the crash." Tracy's debut, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, and the sequel, Diary of a Married Call Girl, are international bestsellers. A regular columnist for The Guardian, she has written for many publications including Cosmopolitan, The Financial Times, and The New York Times.
Joe Mathews is a journalist, an Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation, and a contributing writer at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as Justice Department reporter for the Wall Street Journal and as a city desk reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He is the author of The People’s Machine: Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Rise of Blockbuster Democracy.
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Please just seat Burris.The feds run at a snails pace to decide anything.Let the lwaymakers quit arguing among themselves and go get Blago and then Burris can be removed.Let common sense reign..God knows the politicians have lost their way..Burris appears sad and not bright to allow .Blago to set him up like a puppet.If and when Blago goes to prison, place him in a cell with the other thieves!.
I am very distressed by the shadow boxing America seems addicyed to. Could this be a subconscious attempt to ignore the multitude of grave crises that the nation and the world face?
This whole kerfuffle is silly! Granted, Blagojevitch is a nogoodnick, but he is undeniably a smart one. While everyone insists that Burrus' selection by Blagojevitch "taints" him, the opposite is most likely the case. First: I have not heard even one word that puts Burris' qualifications or character into question. Second: Blago's situation has, in effect, forced him to select a "clean" replacement for Obama's seat - certainly he must act to contradict the charges that he may face, and, being a canny politician, he has done so - thus guaranteeing that Burris is a stellar choice. Unfortunately, our politicians have, despite the Constitutional principle that one is innocent until proven guilty, bought into the notion of guilt by association and decided to indict Burris along with the still-to-be-indicted Blago.
Clearly, Blago has picked Burris to "stick it to" those who disapprove of his gangland style of political maneuvering. I would suggest that he has succeeded. He must be having a great time watching Washington pols scurry around trying to club him to death using poor Senator Burris as the club! It seems to me that the only ones getting hurt are those pols and the nation.Burris is an individual American who should be accepted or rejected on his own merits. Come on everybody, let's honor the Constitution. Burris' selection at the hands of a questionable politician under close scrutiny is no more relevant to Burris' fitness for office than Obama's serving on a board with a boomer bad boy was relevant to his fitness to lead. (Pay attention Pres. Elect Obama! Don't get sucked into the "optics" - they are often just hallucunations!) It's time to be logical!!!!!
Powell was elected by the voters in a clean election; Burris was appointed by a tainted governor. The two situations are not equivalent.
Let this go through the full roster of court decisions. Let them delay this as long as possible tied up in the courts, or until Blago is impeached and either the new governor Pat Quinn appoints a new candidate or there is a special election. That is the only way to assure that Burris did not buy his way into the seat. To let him be seated would punctuate the cynical view of the American public that political offices can be bought for a price.
How sad to see bigoted nitwits trying to change the constitution to support their warped views.
How sad that the some bigoted nitwits are, again, ignoring the constitution to further their warped views.
So nice to hear from you again Mr. Jacobs. At the beginning of my journalism career, you were among the first public officials I ever interviewed. You were kind, gracious, and patient. Thanks for all you good work!
Thank you.
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