CHICAGO—U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel denied a request by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to push back his trial date, saying he has had plenty of time to prepare for his trial. Mr. Blagojevich's lawyers had asked the judge to delay the trial until Nov. 3, instead of the scheduled date of June 3, saying they had an enormous amount of material to digest in preparing for trial. "I think there has been adequate time" to prepare a defense, Judge Zagel said in a hearing Wednesday morning. Mr. Blagojevich's attorneys had also argued that a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a law prosecutors originally used to indict him could affect the trial. But Judge Zagel said the ruling will not change the facts of the case. "The evidence is what the evidence is," Judge Zagel said. "The facts are going to be the same no matter the law." Write to Douglas Belkin at doug.belkin@wsj.com [Read more...]