EXTRA: Blagojevich off to SCOTUS, will they care to hear his appeal?

BLAGOJEVICH: Appeal, not he, off to D.C.

“Petition for rehearing is therefore DENIED!”

That was the bottom line for the docket entry Wednesday connected to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s ongoing attempts to get out of prison without having to serve that 14-year sentence he received back in 2012.

EARLIER THIS MONTH, Blagojevich asked the full Court of Appeals in Chicago to reconsider his case – even though a three-judge panel had already struck down a few charges, but left enough intact that he’s still going to have to do more prison time.

It was considered by legal experts to be a long-shot, and it really was. All three judges on the panel voted “no” to the idea of further reconsideration, and none of the other justices based in Chicago felt the need to overrule them.

It’s good to be the king, or an appeals court judge, it seems. It would have taken an egregious error to get something overturned. And it’s not like anyone had to give a reason for being opposed to rehearing Blagojevich’s case. There are no tea leaves to be read in this case as to why it didn't happen.

So Blagojevich remains incarcerated in Colorado, with plans to take his case to the Supreme Court of the United States. He will be one of thousands of cases that get filed to the nation’s high court each year on a myriad of issues -- or from people who can't accept the verdict they received from a trial judge who try to claim some high-minded legal concept is at stake.

SCALIA: Will former U.Chicago Law prof care?

BUT WILL HE be amongst the few dozen that the court even bothers to accept? Let alone hear oral arguments on and ultimately rule in their favor?

Somehow, I suspect we have a better chance of hearing Antonin Scalia confess how wrong he was in his opposition to gay marriage before any of the justices feels compelled to give Blagojevich a second thought!

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