Per CNN:
Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson has rejected Roland Burris' appointment to the Senate, an aide to the secretary told CNN. Erickson rejected Burris' appointment because his certificate of appointment was missing the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, the aide said Monday.
Rule 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate states that the secretary of state must sign the certificate of election along with the governor.
White has declined to sign the certificate, siding with some Senate Democrats who say Burris should not be seated because of the cloud over Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat.
http://www.cnn.com/...
This should make for some interesting conversation in the next few days. The article mentions that Reid may be in negotiations with Burris to seat him if he promises not to run in 2010, although how he could be assured of that I don't know. One thing is clear, though. Burris is not going down without a fight.
Update: There has been a lot of discussion on here about whether the Senate has the ability to block this appointment. Will Burris have to fight the state of Illinois first before he will have to fight the Senate?
I really don't know what should be done in this case. At first I was totally against the appointment, but lately it seems like it is such a small matter compared to the big things, and, after all, we are talking about a Democratic vote in the Senate.
So I would urge the SOS to sign the damn appointment and the Senate to seat him.