U.S. Senate Will Seat Roland Burris

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2009— -- Roland Burris will be seated this week as a U.S. senator, taking over the position vacated by President-elect Barack Obama and capping a bizarre, weeks-long saga surrounding the legality of his appointment.

Senate leaders first rejected Burris and turned him away from the Senate before finally accepting his appointment by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was arrested in December for allegedly trying to sell the very same Senate seat.

The move reverses an unlikely standoff between Burris, a former Illinois attorney general who has not held elective office in more than a decade, and the powerful Democratic lawmakers who control Congress. The Democratic leaders had wanted to avoid accepting an appointment made by Blagojevich, because of the charges against him.

Blagojevich was impeached Friday by the Illinois House of Representatives, but as a sitting governor he still has the legal authority to make appointments.

A breakthrough was reached for Burris when Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who had pledged not to sign the document by which Blagojevich officially appointed Burris, signed a separate sheet, acknowledging Burris. While unconventional, Blagojevich's appointment and White's separate certification of that appointment satisfied the Senate parliamentarian when Burris' attorney and Blagojevich's chief of staff presented the credentials today.

"The secretary of the Senate has determined that the new credentials presented today on behalf of Mr. Burris now satisfy Senate Rules and validate his appointment to the vacant Illinois Senate seat," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in a joint statement announcing they would accept Burris. "In addition, as we requested, Mr. Burris has provided sworn testimony before the Illinois House Committee on Impeachment regarding the circumstances of his appointment."