Democrats Cave; Burris to be Seated

This did not take long at all. We expected Senator Reid to dig in his heels, and for a moment it looked as though he would. But, just coming across the wires, the Democrats have apparently caved in. A tip of the hat to Slublog @ Ace of Spades for the story. From FOX News:

Senate Democrats plan to accept Roland Burris for President-elect Barack Obama's vacant seat.

After being rejected Tuesday when he tried to join the class of incoming senators, Burris is expected to meet with the Senate's top two Democrats -- Majority Leader Harry Reid and assistant leader Dick Durbin -- on Wednesday in the hopes of securing their support.

The likelihood that Burris, a Democrat, will become the Senate's only black member after Obama's resignation from the seat, increased Tuesday when a key chairwoman got behind him, cracking what had been united public front by Senate Democrats against an appointee of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Senate officials in both parties, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly for Senate members, have said there is a growing expectation in the Capitol that the saga will end with Burris being seated.

So Harry Reid caves yet again on this despite the fact the FOX News report states his office is denying this. What's worse is the fact the Illinois secretary of state weighed in on this, and made Senator Reid look even more foolish. Remember that Senator Reid claimed that he would not seat Mr. Burris because the secretary of state's refused to certify the appointment. Secretary of State White shrieked that he would not certify the appointment and that Mr. Burris could not be seated without that certification. Now that is apparently not true:

"We've had a rule in effect since 1884 in the Senate that for a person to be appointed by the governor, you have to have a signature from the governor and the Secretary of State," Reid told reporters during a morning news conference.

But White said Wednesday that his signature is not essential in appointing Burris to President-elect Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat.

"They could have seated him without my signature. My signature is not required," White told WGN-720AM.

"My signature is mostly ceremonial, rather than a point of law," he said.

As Thomas would say, "Cue the backward track." They caved in because they knew they did not have a legal leg to stand on. After Governor Blagojevic painted the Democrats into a corner, and Mr. Burris' cour challenge, they were left with no other choice except to accept the appointment. Mr. Burris is set to give a presser this afternoon. Whether he announces the full cave-in is unknown, but it looks as though he will be seated shortly. We actually wonder if someone pulled Harry Reid aside and asked him if he slept through law school given how brazen he was about flouting the Seventeenth Amendment.

So much for standing by promises. As Jim Geraghty observes often, all of Barack Obama's promises come with an expiration date. It seems that so do Harry Reid's promises.

Marcie