Court Boots Emanuel Off Chicago Mayoral Ballot
In Chicago's hotly-contested race for mayor, an Illinois court ruled Monday that Rahm Emanuel's name must be removed from the ballot. The election is next month, and Emanuel has been leading in polls and in fundraising. But the Illinois court ruled that he does not meet the state's residency requirement.
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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
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From Chicago, NPR's David Schaper reports.
DAVID SCHAPER: Emanuel had a sizable lead in most polls, but now Emanuel must step up his fight just to get his name listed on next month's ballot.
RAHM EMANUEL: How are you guys? How's everybody doing?
SCHAPER: In a hastily called news conference this afternoon, Emanuel said he will appeal today's ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.
EMANUEL: And I have no doubt that we will, in the end, prevail at this effort. As my father always used to say: Nothing's ever easy in life. So nothing's ever easy. So this is just one turn in the road.
SCHAPER: In December, the Chicago Board of Elections ruled in Emanuel's favor, placing his name on the ballot, and when the challengers took the case to state court, a just ruled in Emanuel's favor, too. But on appeal, the higher court reversed those earlier rulings.
DAVID FRANKLIN: And the appeals court decision today strikes me, on a first read, as legally defensible but somewhat strained.
SCHAPER: David Franklin is a law professor and elections law expert at Chicago's DePaul University. He says the appellate court is applying two standards to Emanuel, agreeing on the one hand that he did maintain a legal domicile in Chicago.
FRANKLIN: So he's clearly qualified to vote in the mayoral election, and the Court of Appeals agreed with that in its decision today, but it said that to be a candidate, you have to have something more than just domicile, which is to say you have to actually live in Chicago for a year prior to the election. That he clearly didn't do.
SCHAPER: David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.
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