On June 6, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would not hear Burris v Judge, 10-367. This is the lawsuit brought by former U.S. Senator Roland Burris of Illinois, after the 7th circuit denied him any opportunity to run in the special election for U.S. Senate in November 2010. The special election was to fill the seat for the remaining two months of President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat. Burris had been appointed to the remainder of the seat after Obama resigned to become President, but the 7th circuit had then ruled that Illinois most hold an election to fill the last two months of the term. But, the 7th circuit also said no one could appear on the ballot in that special election, except for the four individuals who were already on the November 2010 ballot for the full 6-year term election.

No philosophically sound justification exists for the 7th circuit decision. In effect, the voters, and the political parties, were all denied any ability to nominate candidates in this election. The U.S. Supreme Court was obviously troubled by the 7th circuit decision. The Supreme Court’s first conference on whether to hear this case had been held on November 23, 2010. It is extremely unusual for the Court to take that long to decide whether or not to hear a case.