The Illinois State Supreme Court Wednesday afternoon denied an emergency request from the state's attorney general, Lisa Madigan, to consider removing besieged Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich from power.Without issuing an opinion or other comment, the court also denied Ms. Madigan's motion for a temporary restraining order that would have immediately stripped Mr. Blagojevich of many of his powers, including the authority to appoint someone to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Mr. Blagojevich, a two-term Democrat, was arrested early last week on charges of conspiracy and soliciting bribes in a sprawling criminal case that involves, among other things, accusations that he conspired to sell the vacant Senate seat.
Ms. Madigan had no immediate comment.
No breakdown of how the seven justices had voted was given, and a spokesman for the Supreme Court, Joseph Tybor, said that they have no plans to speak about the matter beyond the issuance of their orders, which were filed Wednesday afternoon.
Ms. Madigan had argued in court papers filed last Friday that "the pervasive nature and severity" of a federal corruption case against Mr. Blagojevich had rendered him "incapable of legitimately exercising his ability as governor."
The decision came on the same day that Mr. Blagojevich's lawyer, Ed Genson, called on Ms. Madigan to recuse herself from any dealings with the governor's fate because of her own political ambitions. She has been mentioned as a possible candidate to fill Mr. Obama's Senate seat and has expressed interest in possibly running for governor in 2010.