Burris to be sworn in Thursday

Roland Burris will be sworn in at 2 p.m. Thursday, his office announced Tuesday, bringing an end to the two-week struggle over the controversial appointee of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

{mosads}Vice President Dick Cheney will swear in Burris, whose path was cleared Monday after Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced they are dropping their objection to the appointment.

The appointee has a pair of documents with the signatures of Blagojevich and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, but not one single certificate with both signatures as required by a Senate rule.

Following the same procedure that other senators followed last Tuesday, Burris will be sworn in twice, once in the current Senate chamber and again in a ceremonial re-enactment for friends and media in the Old Senate Chamber down a Capitol hallway.

Burris will also be the guest of Durbin at a private reception in Durbin’s office suite, following the ceremony.

Burris’s appointment by Blagojevich was protested by Reid and Durbin because of Blagojevich’s Dec. 9 arrest on charges that include trying to sell his appointment to the seat. They reversed course under pressure from Democrats and an intense media focus that had distracted the chamber.