Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, an Illinois legal watchdog group, called this week for the immediate suspension of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s law license.
Blagojevich has been at the center of legal scandal since 2009 when he was investigated — and later convicted — on corruption charges surrounding an attempt to sell an appointment to the former U.S. Senate of President Barack Obama.
The group, whose stated mission “is to promote and protect the integrity of the legal profession,” filed court papers asking for Blagejovich to surrender his law license until all the criminal cases pending against him are settled.
“[D]ue to the egregious breadth of respondent’s conduct while governor of this state as concluded by two separate juries, an interim suspension is appropriate at this time,” Jerome Larkin, administrator for the petitioning organization, wrote in its court filing.
Blagojovich was impeached by the Illinois House of Representatives in 2009 for other corruption charges. He is the fourth Illinois governor in the last 40 years to be implicated in serious criminal activity. He has held a law license in the state of Illinois since 1984.