Illinois high court to hear Emanuel's case

CHICAGO - Illinois' highest court agreed yesterday to take Rahm Emanuel's appeal of a decision that threw him off the ballot for Chicago mayor and ordered election officials not to print any mayoral ballots without Emanuel's name.

State Supreme Court justices agreed to expedite the case, but they gave no specific time frame. They planned to review legal briefs only and would not hold oral arguments.

Emanuel has asked the court to overturn a lower ruling that pulled his name off the ballot because he had not lived in the city for a year. His attorneys called Monday's decision "squarely inconsistent" with previous rulings on the issue.

The moves by the high court bought valuable time for Emanuel. The Chicago Board of Elections had said it would begin printing ballots without his name as early as yesterday, with the election less than a month away. Absentee ballots were to be sent out within days.

Messages left for election officials were not immediately returned. "I'm confident in the argument we're making about the fact that I never lost my residency," Emanuel said yesterday at a campaign stop where he picked up an endorsement from the Teamsters Joint Council.

Emanuel said the order on the ballot printing was "an important first step in ensuring that voters are not disenfranchised and that they ultimately get to choose the next mayor of Chicago."

In their appeal, Emanuel's attorneys called Monday's ruling "one of the most far-reaching election law rulings" ever issued in Illinois, not only because of its effect on the mayoral race but for "the unprecedented restriction" it puts on future candidates.

His lawyers raise several points, including that the appeals court applied a definition of "residency" stricter than the one used for voters. They say Illinois courts have never required candidates to be physically present in the state to seek office there.

By adopting this new requirement, the court rejected state law allowing people to keep their residence in Illinois even if they are away doing work for the state or federal government, the appeal said.

Emanuel, a former congressman who represented Chicago, was gone for nearly two years while he served as President Barack Obama's chief of staff.

The new standard also sets a "significant limitation on ballot access" that denies voters the right to choose certain candidates, the appeal said.