John P. Marshall '01 and Frank X. Leonard '01, who will be in charge of prosecuting the case against Burton, will have to win over two-thirds of the council for Burton to be removed from office.

The two-thirds rule will require support from traditional Driskell-Burton supporters, as well as their political opponents.

In order to win these council members over, Marshall and Leonard say they will have to appeal to council members' ethical sensibilities: Burton did something wrong, they will argue, and should be punished for it.

"I think that most people on the council will understand that this is not political sour grapes," Hawkins said.

But Burton's prosecutors may have trouble avoiding that impression. As Burton and his supporters have pointed out, three of the ten sponsors of the bill to remove him from office ran against his ticket in December's presidential election.

One of those three, Leonard, will be prosecuting Burton's case before the council, which Driskell says may undermine the ten sponsors' ability to convince council members that they're not pursuing a political agenda.

"That puts one of the [fall election] candidates in the role of prosecution," said Driskell. "I think people will be very aware of that."

Non-council members may also affect the outcome.