Ryan's clemencies challenged----32 cases were ineligible,...

Ryan's clemencies challenged----32 cases were ineligible, Supreme Court told Months after former Gov. George Ryan cleared Illinois death row with a blanket commutation, lawyers for Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan urged the state's high court to restore the death sentences for some of the inmates she contends weren't eligible for executive clemency. At its heart, the case tests the breadth of the clemency provision of the state constitution, which gives the chief executive the power to grant reprieves, commutations and pardons "after conviction for all offenses on such terms as he thinks proper." Madigan is asking the court to rule that Ryan overstepped the bounds of his authority in handing down some of the commutations and to declare them void. The matter comes before the court eight months after Ryan commuted every death sentence to life in prison without parole. In all, 164 people were removed from death row, and three sentences were shortened to 40 years in prison. Madigan is not challenging the bulk of the clemencies, but she is seeking to overturn 32 of them. The reasons vary, but she argues that some of those inmates were not eligible for clemency because they had not sought it, while others technically weren't facing death sentences when Ryan acted on their behalf.