A federal appeals court has rejected former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan’s bid to remain free while challenging his historic corruption conviction, meaning the country’s longest-serving state House leader is almost certainly headed to prison this month.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had appeared to be the 83-year-old’s last, best hope of remaining free. But the court denied Madigan’s request without explanation in an order Friday.
It’s not clear where Madigan will serve his prison sentence, but his lawyers have asked that he be sent to a prison camp in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Madigan led the Illinois House of Representatives for all but two years between 1983 and 2021. He’s due to surrender Oct. 13 to begin serving a 7 ½-year prison sentence that could keep him behind bars until he nears his 90th birthday.
That said, former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke, 81, left prison in July after spending only nine months behind bars. He’d been sentenced to two years in prison for racketeering.
The appellate court ruling in Madigan’s case comes nearly two months after U.S. District Judge John Blakey, who presided over Madigan’s trial, ruled that Madigan had “not come close” to meeting the “high burden” necessary to avoid prison.
Madigan’s new team of appellate lawyers based in Washington, D.C., asked the 7th Circuit to consider the request last month. The lawyers called Blakey’s ruling “manifestly erroneous” and argued it set a standard under which “no defendant” could secure release.
“In complex fraud and corruption cases like this one, courts routinely grant release,” they insisted.
Still, legal experts told the Sun-Times that Madigan faced an “uphill battle.”
This all comes eight months after a jury convicted Madigan of bribery conspiracy, wire fraud and other crimes.
The conviction revolved around two schemes. In one, ComEd paid five Madigan allies $1.3 million over eight years so Madigan would look more favorably at the utility’s legislation. The other involved a deal to have then-Chicago Ald. Danny Solis installed on a state board in exchange for Solis’ help landing private business for Madigan’s tax appeal law firm.
Madigan formally appealed his conviction July 23. Then, a team of lawyers from the Williams & Connolly law firm filed appearances on behalf of the once-powerful Southwest Side Democrat.
They included Lisa Blatt, a well-known high court litigator who touts an 81% win rate, as well as Amy Saharia, who has represented former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
They told the appellate court Madigan’s prosecution is a “quintessential case for release pending appeal” because it involves questions the 7th Circuit has yet to consider in the wake of rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court.
For example, there’s an ongoing debate about the meaning of the word “corruptly” within a bribery statute used to convict Madigan. Supreme Court justices debated the meaning of the word in 2024 but failed to define it in a ruling that followed.
Madigan’s team also complained about the so-called “stream-of-benefits” theory adopted by prosecutors, which has been described in court as “more like a meal plan in which you don’t pay for each item on the menu.
“Rather, there is a cost that you pay, an ongoing cost, and you get your meals.”
Madigan’s lawyers complained that, with the adoption of such a theory, prosecutors were “never required to settle on what question or matter Madigan agreed to act upon at the time the alleged bribery scheme began.”