Full court won’t rehear appeal of Rod Blagojevich

Rod Blagojevich has manged to fight some of his corruption convictions, but if he wants to overturn any more, he’ll have to go to the Supreme Court.

On July 21, a three-judge appellate panel for the 7th Circuit Court threw out five of the 18 counts Blagojevich was convicted of in 2011.

The full 7th Circuit Appellate Court has denied Rod Blagojevich’s request for a rehearing. The reversed counts were tied to Blagojevich’s effort to swap President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat for a Cabinet position in the president’s administration back in 2008.

“Few politicians, who must raise campaign funds as part of their job, could survive the legal requirements imposed on Blagojevich”, Goodman said in his pitch to the full appeals court.

Blagojevich’s only remaining option is to ask the U.S Supreme Court to hear his appeal. The Supreme Court tends to accept cases that raise weighty issues and ones that federal courts disagree on.

The judges did not explain why they rejected Blagojevich’s request, but it’s very rare for the full 7th Circuit to agree to rehear an appeal. “What’s clear is that in order for us to see justice, the appeal needs to be taken out of Illinois and be in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court where we can find fairness and impartial justices”.

An appeal to the nation’s highest court is a last and seemingly slim hope for a major legal victory.

“I am thankful that the decision came quickly because the waiting is awful”, Patti Blagojevich said. Secretly trading favors based on politicians’ executive powers, the panel concluded, is a legitimate way to get things done.

“The evidence, much of it from Blagojevich’s own mouth, is overwhelming”.

In petitioning for the en banc hearing earlier this month, Blagojevich’s lawyers found fault with the panel for backing Zagel’s approval of jury instructions on the extortion statute. Blagojevich is in a federal prison serving a 14-year sentence.

“What is at stake is nothing less than the rule of law”, he said. The full court has 11 active judges.

MEDIA NOTE: Attorney Leonard Goodman will do interviews at this office, 53 W Jackson Blvd, Suite 1650, Chicago, IL beginning at 3pm CT. Not a news conference. But Jeff Cramer, another former federal prosecutor, believes the government attorneys can’t be happy about it. While they could even appeal to the Supreme Court themselves on that narrow issue, he doesn’t think they will.