No movement in Rod Blagojevich’s lawsuit that would allow him to run for office again

CHICAGO (WLS) — Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich has been waiting for a decision in his lawsuit that could open the door on another run for office. But the wait is a long one. It’s been more than a year and a half since he filed a federal civil rights case against the state that challenged a law he said prevents him alone from running for office.

Blagojevich filed the lawsuit more than two years ago after he was out of prison for corruption, claiming the General Assembly had violated his civil rights by removing him from office and then prohibiting him from any future run in the state.

The Illinois Attorney General quickly made a motion to dismiss Blagojevich’s claim with the last document filed a year and a half ago.

U.S. District Judge Steven Seeger has not ruled on the motion to terminate Blagojevich’s lawsuit in 18 months, and nothing has been filed in the case since.

“I think what it makes clear is that this is not at the front of the list for this judge. There is obviously no sense of great urgency here,” said former federal prosecutor and ABC 7 chief legal analyst Gil Soffer.

He said the delay is unusual, but not unheard of.

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A spokesperson for the Illinois attorney general declined to comment on the lack of movement.

“The state of Illinois is perfectly happy with the status quo, because the status quo is that will go away but you can’t run for office so the case can sit there for eternity and that would suit the state just fine,” said Soffer.

Blagojevich told the I-Team two years ago that it’s unconstitutional to pass a state law against one person stopping them from running for office.

“I could legally run for President of the United States, but I can’t run for alderman of the 33rd Ward,” he said.

“At some point, maybe what we’re seeing here is at least an initial view of the part of the court that this is likely something that is going to be denied and so whether it happens now or whether it happens a year from now, doesn’t make much of a difference,” said Soffer.

There is no prescribed time for rulings on motions to dismiss and judges control the flow of cases before them.

Soffer said sometimes cases can drag on for years without any filings or decisions. Former governor Blagojevich seems unfazed by this. Over the months he’s told the I-Team that he’s not concerned about the seemingly long delay.