Blagojevich says he’ll sue over Illinois prohibition on him running for office

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) said he is going to sue the state in an attempt to run for office again. 

In an interview with ABC News affiliate WLS-TV on Sunday, Blagojevich told the station that he has filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois, claiming that the methods used against him by the state’s General Assembly violated his constitutional rights. 

Blagojevich said he could “run for President of the United States, but I can’t run for alderman of the 33rd Ward,” according to WLS-TV. 

The former governor added that his new lawsuit accused the state of not allowing him to call or question witnesses at his trial and not playing FBI undercover recordings during their investigation, the ABC affiliate reported. 

“That’s unconstitutional to pass a law against one person that he or she can’t run for anything,” Blagojevich said. 

Blagojevich was arrested by federal authorities in 2008 in an expansive corruption case that led to his impeachment in the state House and ultimately his removal from the governor’s mansion.

Blagojevich, 64, served eight years of his 14-year prison term before former President Trump commuted his sentence in February 2020, WLS-TV reported. 

The former governor, who was elected in 2003, noted this battle is a fight about the current voting rights issues in the country, adding that people should vote for who they want. 

“But I do feel like it’s a violation of not only my right, but the right of the people to elect who they want, to elect, to choose whoever they want to choose,” Blagojevich said. “Vote for, vote against whoever they want to vote for or against. It’s a voting rights issue.”