Eric Lach January 24, 2011, 1:39 PM

An appellate court panel in Illinois ruled 2-1 today that Rahm Emanuel should not appear on the Feb. 22 Chicago mayoral ballot.

Appellate judges Thomas Hoffman and Shelvin Louise Marie Hall found that Emanuel does not meet the residency standard to run, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.

“It’s a surprise,” Kevin Forde, Emanuel’s lawyer, said.

Emanuel, President Obama’s former Chief of Staff and an ex-Congressman from Chicago, owns a home on the north side of the city, but was renting it out to a man named Rob Halpin, who refused to allow Emanuel to move back in after Mayor Richard Daley announced he would not seek re-election. The Sun-Times reports that the Illinois State Municipal Code puts stricter limits on who can run for local office than the state’s election code.

Justice Bertina Lampkin voted in favor of keeping Emanuel on the ballot, and the Sun-Times reports that his lawyer’s are expected to use Lampkin’s dissenting opinion to appeal the ruling.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: So Rahm, Farewell]

Late Update: Emanuel faced reporters this afternoon and addressed the ruling, noting that though the court ruled against him, “the dissent came in pretty strong.” He said that his attorneys will ask for a stay of the ruling so that his name can be printed on the ballots, which have yet to be made.

“I think obviously this will go to the next level, to the Supreme Court,” Emanuel said.

Read the ruling here:

rahmemanualruling

Chicago, Rahm Emanuel