Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is seen in this 2012 photo.(Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast, AP)
WASHINGTON — Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich won't get his day at the Supreme Court.
The colorful Democratic politician known as 'Blago' was rejected Monday in his effort to get the high court to reconsider his conviction on corruption charges for trying to sell the vacant Senate seat once occupied by President Obama.
The saga ended quietly in the last year of Obama's White House term,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as the ex-governor's petition was denied without comment.
Blagojevich, 59, was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>convicted in 2011 of 17 felonies,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>including 11 counts stemming from what federal prosecutors called his attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat. He is serving a 14-year sentence at a federal prison in Colorado.
A federal appeals court tossed out five of the convictions, but the Supreme Court refused to hear his lawyers' arguments that the remaining counts also were examples of commonplace political favors rather than illegal corruption.
The justices agreed earlier this year to hear<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a similar case from Virginia, where former Republican governor Bob McDonnell is challenging his conviction for accepting more than $175,000 in gifts and loans from a wealthy businessman in exchange for government favors. The case will be heard on April 27, the court's last day for oral arguments this term.
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