Congratulation Illinois Junior Sen. Roland Burris

Common sense prevailed when the Democratic machine, including Senator Harry Reid and Senator Richard Durbin when they finally did the right thing by rightfully allowing Roland Burris to fill the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. The fact is the Democratic party did not have a leg to stand on by trying to prevent Senator Burris.

The decision was a 360 degrees turned by the Democratic leadership, which initially vowed that the Burris’ appointment would not stand because Gov. Rod Blagojevich had been arrested on charges of having earlier tried to sell the seat.

On Friday, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled the appointment of Senator Roland Burris was valid. But Democrats said they would not seat him until the appointment was certified by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.

While White refused to certify the appointment, he signed a statement after the court ruling certifying that the governor’s appointment letter was legally filed with the state.

That appeared to satisfy the secretary of the Senate, who had last week rejected Burris’ credentials as incomplete.

"The secretary of the Senate has determined that the new credentials presented today on behalf of Mr. Burris now satisfy Senate Rules and validate his appointment," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Dick Durbin said in a joint statement.

Since 1870, the United States Senate have had only 6 African-American Senators. Two out of the six were Republicans elected during the Reconstruction era. Four out of the six were elected in modern era. The last three U.S. Senators are from Illinois:

Senator	Party	State	Term
Hiram Rhodes Revels	Republican	Mississippi	1870-1871
Blanche Bruce	Republican	Mississippi	1875-1881

Edward Brooke	Republican	Massachusetts	1967-1979
Carol Moseley Braun	Democrat	Illinois	1993-1999
Barack Obama	Democrat	Illinois	2005-2008
Roland Burris	Democrat	Illinois	2009-2010