Rahm Emanuel: Illinois Supreme Court issues order keeping him on ballot for now

The Illinois Supreme Court today issued a stay of the appellate court order knocking Rahm Emanuel off the ballot and ordered Chicago election officials not to print any ballots without his name.

“The Board of Elections is directed that if any ballots are printed while this Court is considering this case, the ballots should include the name of petitioner Rahm Emanuel as a candidate for Mayor of the City of Chicago.”

The high court said it was still considering whether to grant Emanuel’s request that it hear his appeal on an expedited basis.

Lawyers for Rahm Emanuel today filed their appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court asking to have him restored to the Chicago mayoral ballot.

The document asking for the high court to step into the matter comes after Monday’s appellate court ruling stripping Emanuel’s name from the Feb. 22 ballot. Emanuel lawyer Kevin Forde said the document was filed in Springfield and Chicago this morning.

It’s not certain that the high court will agree to Emanuel’s petition to hear his case -- if they decline to take up the issue, Emanue’s bid for mayor would suffer a likely fatal blow.

The 2-1 appellate decision said Emanuel does not meet residency requirements that he be a city resident for a year before an election.

The document pleading for the high court to take up the case calls the appellate court decision “one of the most far-reaching election law rulings ever to be issued by an Illinois court, not only because of its implications for the current Chicago mayoral election but also for the unprecedented restriction that it imposes on the ability of numerous individuals to participate in every future municipal elections in this state.”