(CHICAGO) The United States Supreme Court on Monday decided not to hear an appeal by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
A list of orders posted Monday on the court’s website included the Blagojevich appeal under the category of “certiorari denied,” meaning the case would not be heard.
Blagojevich, 59, reported to a federal prison in Colorado four years ago to begin serving a 14-year sentence. He was convicted of 18 counts over two trials, including that he attempted to trade his power to appoint someone to a U.S. Senate seat — the one recently vacated by President Barack Obama — in exchange for personal benefits. A three-judge appellate panel tossed five of his 18 criminal convictions last year and ordered him to be resentenced. However, that panel also pointed out “it is not possible to call 168 months unlawfully high for Blagojevich’s crimes.”
That means U.S. District Judge James Zagel may not be moved to lighten the former governor’s sentence, even after the three-judge panel tossed nearly a third of the counts against Blagojevich.
Zagel has not scheduled a hearing in the eight months since the three-judge panel called for the resentencing. That could change now that the Supreme Court has shot down Blagojevich’s appeal — and set the stage for a return of the Blagojevich circus to Zagel’s courtroom.
Blagojevich is not set to be released until May 2024, records show.
In his pitch to the Supreme Court, Blagojevich appellate lawyer Leonard Goodman argued there is confusion among lower courts when it comes to public corruption prosecutions and the solicitation of campaign contributions. He urged the Supreme Court to intervene, calling the Blagojevich case an “ideal vehicle” and the three-judge panel’s ruling last summer a disappointment.
“We believe the decision is flawed and puts every public official, who must raise campaign funds to stay in office and to be effective, at the mercy of an ambitious or politically motivated federal prosecutor,” Goodman said last year. “But we remain hopeful that we will prevail in the end because the decision is in conflict with established legal precedent which has existed for more than 20 years.”
A group of politicians and labor leaders also urged the court to take the case. The group, which took “no position on Mr. Blagojevich’s innocence or guilt,” included U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky, Danny Davis, Mike Quigley and Bobby Rush, as well as former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones and Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis.
Government lawyers argued Blagojevich should be resentenced before the Supreme Court hears his case. But Goodman insisted the Supreme Court had “unquestioned” power to review it.
Over the summer, Blagojevich’s publicists released his first public statement since he surrendered in 2012 to a begin serving a 14-year sentence at a federal prison in Colorado.
“There is nothing I desire more than to return home to my wife and two young daughters,” Blagojevich said. “I cherish them more than anything in the world. I wish this was over. But I must fight on. What is at stake is nothing less than the rule of law.”
