CHICAGO — The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will decide whether Rahm Emanuel can run for mayor of Chicago and ordered election officials not to print any ballots without his name.
The high court's action, which came in two separate orders Tuesday, stays Monday's appellate court decision that knocked Emanuel off the ballot on the grounds he was not a resident of Chicago.
The high court issued an order Tuesday afternoon saying it would take up the dispute over whether Emanuel meets the state requirement that a candidate for office live in a municipality for a year prior to an election, court spokesman Joseph Tybor said.
The order states the court will take up the case on an expedited basis, using briefs the parties filed with the appellate court. There will be no additional briefs and no oral argument before the high court, Tybor said.
The order simply states that Emanuel's petition to appeal is allowed and gives no timetable for a decision.
"The court is taking the case on the briefs filed by the parties in the appellate court," the order said. "No additional briefs will be filed in the Supreme Court. Oral argument will not be entertained."
After the court's rulings, Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, said: "We called the printer and said, 'Stop the presses.' And, at the same time, told them we'll start printing again as soon as possible" with Emanuel's name on the ballot.
Printing of the ballots, without Emanuel's name, had begun Tuesday morning at a facility in Lake County, Ill.
At a news confererence Tuesday morning before the Supreme Court action, Emanuel said he is "confident in the argument we are making" in the appeal and he is "more determined than ever" to see it through.
"I believe (voters) deserve the right to make that choice, to say yes or no and nobody else," Emanuel said.