On December 15, 2008, the Illinois House of Representatives voted to begin an inquiry into whether former governor Rod Blagojevich should be impeached for conspiring to sell or trade the US Senate seat left vacant by the election of President Barack Obama. Blagojevich had been arrested days earlier on corruption charges. Subsequently, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a motion with the Illinois Supreme Court requesting that Blagojevich be declared unfit for office and temporarily removed as governor. Blagojevich was eventually impeached in January 2009, convicted of corruption in June 2011 and sentenced to 14 years in prison in December 2011.

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