If you wonder whether Burris is being treated unfairly in order to save Senate Democrats a minor embarrassment, just ask Congressman Danny Davis (D., Ill.). Like Burris, he is a black politician from Chicago with a long and commendable record of service. And like Burris, he was offered the Senate seat in question, just days before Burris.

He turned it down.

“When I was approached, the reason I said ‘no’ is because it would be so distracting in terms of my already being a member of Congress and having work to do,” Davis told NRO, explaining his decision. “There are issues I want to deal with, instead of dealing with inquiries about what kind of deal the governor and I had cut, that kind of stuff.”

Of course, one could say something similar for Burris — although Davis does not. Despite his respectable reputation for previous service, Burris chose to participate in a farcical appointment process that has helped Blagojevich re-assert his legitimacy in the face of grave political scandal. But Davis holds Burris harmless and believes he has a legal right to be seated, even if polls show the public strongly opposed to the idea.

“Burris has nothing to do with” the controversy surrounding the governor, Davis said. “I think the most rational and most prudent act that could be taken is to confirm Roland. The governor obviously has the right to make the appointment. Roland has an impeccable public service career — 20 years as a statewide elected official, never an event of impropriety or anything that would bring a negative to the Senate appointment. They should just do it and let the voters deal with the governor, and the judicial system and the Illinois legislature.”

To argue otherwise on technical grounds, Davis said, is to say that a secretary of state has the authority to veto a governor’s appointment. “That is unheard of — completely unheard of,” he said. Burris’s lack of certification, he added, is “a fallback position” that Senate Democrats have adopted in order to avoid a bigger controversy.

Whether on legal or ethical grounds, the question of whether Burris can, or should, or must be seated — now or later — is one in which the major debaters stand awkwardly. As one Senate aide put it, “It looks like no one has the moral high ground today.”