Roland Burris To Be Sworn In To Obama's Senate Seat Thursday

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Democrats are following through with their pledge to seat Roland Burris, who will be sworn in on Thursday, more than a week after the 111th Congress held its first session.

The senator-designate will take the oath of office in a ceremony scheduled for 2:00 pm ET on the Senate floor, according to the Chicago Tribune. Vice President Dick Cheney, as president of the Senate, will preside over the event and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) will hold a reception afterwards for Burris.

After saying outright that they would not seat anyone appointed by disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Durbin and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) declared Burris qualified for President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat on Monday.

They said in a joint statement that Burris had presented new credentials that satisfied Senate rules, and that he had testified before the Illinois House Committee on Impeachment just as they had requested. "He is now the Senator- designate from Illinois and as such, will be accorded all the rights and privileges of a Senator-elect," they said.

The 71-yer-old Burris was appointed to Obama's seat by Blagojevich on Dec. 30. Democrats had said is nomination was "tainted" by the charges that the governor, who is required under state law to make the appointment, tried to sell the Senate seat.

A former Illinois attorney general, Burris attempted to be seated last Tuesday when the lawmakers of the new Congress were sworn in. He had presented the Senate with an appointment that did not have the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who had refused to support Blagojevich's choice.

In response to a lawsuit from Burris asking that White be forced to sign his certification of appointment, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that only the governor's signature was needed to make Burris' appointment legal.

Blagojevich was arrested on Dec. 9 at his North Side home after years of being investigated on allegations of corruption. The Illinois House voted to impeach him last Friday following a recommendation from a 21-member bipartisan committee to oust him from office.

He has yet to be indicted, but the criminal complaint against him says he attempted to raise $100,000 in campaign contributions in return for his signing into law of a bill directing a portion of casino revenues the horse racing industry. He had also allegedly been offered $1.5 million in campaign money by associates of an individual identified in the federal complaint as "Senate Candidate 5."