Blagojevich impeached

The Illinois House voted almost unanimously to impeach the governor; he'll now be tried in the state Senate.

Published January 9, 2009 4:50PM (EST)

The Illinois House moved quickly Friday morning to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, voting within hours after debate began. The tally, not surprisingly, went overwhelmingly against the governor -- 114 members voted for impeachment, while only one voted against. (Three were absent.)

With impeachment -- the equivalent of an indictment -- taken care of, the proceedings now move to the state Senate, which will conduct the actual trial.

The Chicago Tribune reports that a spokesman for Blagojevich says the governor has no plans to resign. He'll be holding a news conference this afternoon.

This marks the first time in the state' s history that a governor has been impeached.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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