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In an unprecedented move, the Illinois Attorney-General asked the state's highest court Friday to strip scandal-plagued Governor Rod Blagojevich of his powers.

Lisa Madigan took the action as pressure on the Governor to step down intensified, and legislators considered impeachment.

The fallout over the scandal continued as the Governor's chief of staff resigned. John Harris had been arrested along with Mr. Blagojevich on Tuesday.

Ms. Madigan said she took the action with the Illinois Supreme Court because she thinks it a faster way to strip Mr. Blagojevich of his power than through impeachment, which could take several weeks.

“I recognize that this is an extraordinary request, but these are extraordinary circumstances,” Ms. Madigan said at a news conference.

It was not immediately clear when the Supreme Court might take up the matter. The justices also have the discretion to deny the Attorney-General's request.

The moves came as the Governor prayed with several ministers in his home before heading to his office, telling them he is innocent and will be vindicated “when you hear each chapter completely written,” according to one of the pastors.

The Attorney-General asked the court for a temporary restraining order or an injunction that prevents Mr. Blagojevich from serving as governor. The filing says he is “unable to serve as governor due to disability and should not rightfully continue to hold that office.”

“The pervasive nature and severity of these pending charges disable Mr. Blagojevich from making effective decisions on critical, time-sensitive issues,” the filing said.

The filing asks that the Lieutenant-Governor assume Mr. Blagojevich's powers. It is the first time in Illinois history that such an action has been taken. The Attorney-General is applying a rule that was intended to cover cases where a governor is incapacitated for health reasons. Her motion indicates that his inability to serve because of the scandal is akin to a debilitating health issue.

“His ability to provide effective leadership has been eliminated and the state government is paralyzed,” she said.

Just hours after Ms. Madigan's news conference, Mr. Blagojevich defiantly ignored the pressure to step down and signed a bill that would give insurance coverage to parents of children with autism.

The motion came three days after Mr. Blagojevich was accused of putting president-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat up for sale and shaking down the owners of the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

The decision to go to the state's highest court was not welcomed by everyone. Democratic State Representative Jack Franks said it would set “a dangerous precedent” for the court to remove a governor as Ms. Madigan proposes.

Mr. Franks, a fierce critic of Mr. Blagojevich, said that kind of decision should be left to the Illinois General Assembly. “That's our job, and we should be doing it,” he said.

Meanwhile, people who have been briefed on the corruption investigation say Mr. Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is not a target of the probe.

Mr. Emanuel, a Chicago congressman who would have been a likely contact between the Obama transition office and Mr. Blagojevich, has been a focus of media attention since Mr. Obama said Thursday that he has asked for an internal review of contacts between his staff and Mr. Blagojevich.

Mr. Emanuel has been refusing to answer questions about whether he's the “president-elect adviser” referred to in the criminal complaint. The complaint does not say that Mr. Blagojevich ever spoke to the unidentified Obama adviser about the Senate seat.

The two people who said Mr. Emanuel is not a target of the probe spoke on a condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way.

One is a person close to Mr. Emanuel, who said he has been told by investigators that he is not a subject of their investigation.