Progress Illinois

UPDATE (10:37 a.m.): Sens. Reid and Durbin are just concluded their press conference on Capitol Hill.  They have not agreed to seat Burris, as the AP reported this morning.  To the contrary, they emphasized the importance of having Secretary of State Jesse White's signature on the certificate of appointment and said they are delaying any decision on whether to seat Burris until after the Illinois Supreme Court rules on the matter.  Durbin said he expected the high court to address the case today or tomorrow.  If and when White is ultimately forced to sign the document, the Senate leaders said they will "reassess" the situation and reserved the right to then refer the issue to the Rules Committee. 

So ... nothing much has changed in the past 48 hours.  What a mess.

Here's the video:

UPDATE (10:00 a.m.): Or maybe not.  Politico's Ben Smith is reporting that an aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said "there have been no decisions." 

UPDATE (9:50 a.m.): Until we get more details about what has happened with Burris, it's notable that the Illinois Senate seat dominated the New York Times op-ed page this morning.  Former Justice Department official Walter Dellinger argues that the Senate's ability to block Burris "is highly debatable, at best."  He concludes that the Senate Democrats can avoid a "constitutional quagmire entirely by agreeing to seat Mr. Burris, a respected public servant no one has accused of any wrongdoing."  Looks like they took his advice.  Meanwhile, labor lawyer and 5th Congressional District candidate Tom Geoghegan writes in a separate op-ed that, by appointing U.S. Senate replacements, governors like Rod Blagojevich are "ignoring the constitution ... to increase their own power." 

And on the homefront, be sure to read the Sun-Times' Mark Brown today.

ORIGINAL POST: Just out from the AP:

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

Well, that's that.