On September 24, the 7th circuit upheld the order of a U.S. District Court, limiting the names of candidates in the special U.S. Senate election in Illinois to the same candidates who had qualified for the regular 6-year U.S. Senate election.  The 16-page decision is Judge v Quinn, 10-2836.

The 7th circuit opinion says, “Nothing in the permanent injunction excludes a particular class or group of candidates in a manner that suggests that an identifiable group of voters will be left out of the special election…The District Court’s remedy, which relies on candidates selected pursuant to the Illinois Election Code, was designed to be, and probably is, the most democratic and constitutionally sound approach the district court could have devised.”

As to the argument that Article One of the U.S. Constitution requires state legislatures to pass laws governing congressional elections (except when Congress supercedes them), the 7th circuit decision says that U.S. Senator Roland Burris didn’t make that argument in the U.S. District Court, so it is too late for him to raise that argument in the 7th circuit.  The decision is signed by the same three judges who had this same case earlier.