Reid, who appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said the Senate has the legal authority to deny Burris a seat in the chamber because of the corruption charges facing Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) over allegedly trying to auction off the opening created by Obama’s departure.

But Reid conceded that “there’s always room to negotiate” when asked if his mind was absolutely closed to seating Burris.

However, he and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) renewed their calls on Blagojevich to resign and withdraw his selection of Burris to fill President-elect Obama’s Senate seat.

Both Reid and Durbin, who was a guest on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” dismissed any racial component in the situation, stressing that their concern was with the governor and not Burris or background.

Reid also raised the possibility that Burris could be chosen by Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, if Quinn succeeds Blagojevich as governor and decides to appoint Burris.

“If (Quinn) wants to appoint Burris or anyone else, that would be fine,” he said.Burris's attorney, Timothy Wright, called that scenario “far-fetched” in an interview with The Hill.

“The notion is beyond my legal comprehension that Pat Quinn could appoint anybody into a vacancy that does not exist,” Wright said. “The vacancy was filled.”

Wright also said a federal lawsuit is probable if Reid prevents Burris from being sworn in on Tuesday, and that the appointee plans to attempt to be seated either with or without Senate-approved credentials. Burris has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to force Secretary of State Jesse White to sign the certification papers from Blagojevich, but the court is unlikely to rule before Tuesday and Wright said White’s signature is only perfunctory.

“The plan for Tuesday is to do what every other senator does, to come to the Senate with our credentials and seek the same treatment as everyone else,” Wright said. “The law is clear. This is in no doubt, no question.”

If Burris is turned away, Wright said, “it is more than likely that we would engage the federal courts at that point.”

Reid dismissed any relevance of a 1969 Supreme Court decision in the case of Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, in which the court ruled that Congress could not arbitrarily bar members who otherwise meet the Constitution's age, residency and citizenship status. Reid said the Powell case concerned the congressman's qualifications, while the Burris case is more a matter of who appointed him. Reid also denied that election politics are a prime motivating factor in the controversy.

Reid said he and Durbin plan to meet with Burris on Wednesday, a day after the 111th Congress is sworn in. Burris has said he intends to travel to Washington Monday and attempt to be sworn in on Tuesday.

“We are preparing for Sen. Burris’ acceptance of credentials and swearing in to the US Senate on Tuesday January 6, 2009,” Burris’s attorney, Timothy Wright, said in an e-mail to The Hill.

Burris was a no-show on “This Week” where he had been scheduled to appear.

On the program, Durbin blasted Blagojevich, saying he “has taken the appointment of a Senate vacancy to a level no one even imagined.”

“To think that he believed this was some sort of an auction process, that he could find some political advantage, even some resources and money coming his way if he picked the right person, has really raised a lot of questions,” Durbin said. “The governor of Illinois has the state constitutional authority to fill the vacancy. The Senate of the United States has the U.S. constitutional responsibility to decide if Mr. Burris was chosen in a proper manner, and that is what we’re going to do.”

Durbin also denied that race is playing any role in opposing Burris, noting that Democratic leaders had publicly announced they would not seat any Blagojevich appointment long before he picked Burris, who is African-American.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), speaking on "This Week," called for a special election to fill the seat and said Democrats are afraid of one.

"The fear is that Republicans might somehow win the seat in Illinois if there's a special election," McConnell said. "But the process is so tainted, it's such a tangled mess, that the only way to clear the air and to have a successor chosen in Illinois that everybody can have confidence in -- and a process that they can have confidence in -- is to have a special election."