US President Barack Obama's former chief of staff is eligible to run for mayor of Chicago, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday after a lengthy legal battle.
"We made it," Rahm Emanuel said in an email to supporters. "Now that the distractions are behind us, we can focus again on the issues and challenges that are really facing our city and our neighbors."
Emanuel's name was briefly removed from the ballot this week after an appellate court determined that he did not satisfy residency requirements because he moved to Washington to work in the White House.
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Mayoral candidates are required to be residents of the city for at least a year before the February 22 primary election. Emanuel did not quit his job and return to Chicago until October, shortly after Mayor Richard Daley announced he would not be seeking a seventh term.
Emanuel, who was born in Chicago and served a slice of the city for years in the US House of Representatives, insisted he remained a legal resident because his move was temporary and he always intended to return.
The Windy City's election board and a lower court ruled in his favor, but the appeals court disagreed.
Emanuel got his name temporarily back on the ballot on Tuesday after requesting an emergency stay while the state's top court considered the case.
With early voting set to begin Monday, the top court agreed to issue a swift ruling.
"Given the record before us, it is simply not possible to find clearly erroneous the (elections) Board's determination that the objectors failed to prove that the candidate had abandoned his Chicago residence," the 25-page ruling said.
"We therefore reverse the decision of the appellate court and affirm the decision of the circuit court, which confirmed the Board's decision."
The tough-talking Emanuel, 51, is considered the favorite to win the election in America's third-largest city, which is heavily Democratic.
A poll released last week showed he was closing in on the majority needed to avoid an April run-off between the top two candidates after winning the support of 44 percent of respondents.
Former US senator Carol Moseley Braun garnered 21 percent, while one-time Chicago Board of Education president Gery Chico had 16 percent, city clerk Miguel del Valle held seven percent and nine percent of respondents were undecided.
Emanuel has raised more than $10 million in his mayoral bid and enjoys the support of Obama, who remains extremely popular in his adopted hometown of Chicago.
Former president Bill Clinton flew to Chicago last week to campaign for Emanuel, who once served as his senior adviser.
