Burris Contacts Reid

clipped from www.politico.com In a letter to Harry Reid, Dick Durbin and Dianne Feinstein, a lawyer for Roland Burris forwards his formal appointment documents. "I write to ensure his smooth transition," writes Timothy Wright III, the lawyer, citing Marbury v. Madison as precedent, a case in President Thomas Jefferson tried to stop appointments made by his predecessor, John Adams. "Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Marbury v. Madison over 200 years ago, the law of the land has been that an appointment is complete and irrevocable once the last act required by the person vested with the appointment power is performed," Wright argues.

This is no surprise and really exactly what you'd expect from Team Burris. The only real news here is in the Certificate of Appointment (page 4 of the PDF), which is signed by Governor Blagojevich, but not by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.

White has refused to sign off on the appointment, which may give Reid some legal leverage when it comes to rejecting Burris.