quote:

Minn. rules for Franken in Senate fight By BRIAN BAKST – 12 minutes ago ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that Democrat Al Franken be certified as the winner of the state's long-running Senate race. The high court rejected a legal challenge from Republican Norm Coleman, whose options for regaining the Senate seat are dwindling. Justices said Franken is entitled to the election certificate he needs to assume office. With Franken and the usual backing of two independents, Democrats will have a big enough majority to overcome Republican filibusters. Coleman hasn't ruled out seeking federal court intervention. Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said the earliest Franken would be seated is next week because the Senate is out of session for the July 4th holiday. Coleman's appeal hinged largely on whether thousands of absentee votes had been unfairly rejected by local election officials around the state. The unanimous court wrote that "because the legislature established absentee voting as an optional method of voting, voters choosing to use that method are required to comply with the statutory provisions." They went on to say that "because strict compliance with the statutory requirements for absentee voting is, and always has been required, there is no basis on which voters could have reasonably believed that anything less than strict compliance would suffice." http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap...SrgyOQD9955H200

Okay, thats finally over. Maybe he'll get to the Senate in time for Health care and climate bills?

Don't count on it. Coleman will just appeal again and again until it makes it to the federal circuit.

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He very well could but a) the governor has suggested he would certify Franken should the court rule that way, b) a unanimous decision is hard to argue with. Any further action by Colman at this point is obvious political stalling by Republicans.

EDIT:

quote:

Norm Coleman concedes Minnesota Senate race to Al Franken POLITICO Republican Norm Coleman has conceded to Democrat Al Franken in the Minnesota Senate race, ending one of the longest Senate races in American history and clearing the way for Democrats to hold a 60-seat supermajority in the Senate. Coleman’s concession, given from the front of his St. Paul home, came just a few hours after the Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously ruled Franken the winner of last November’s Senate race. In a unanimous 5-0 decision, the court upheld a three-judge panel’s April 14 ruling that Franken defeated Coleman in the race by 312 votes out of 2.9 million cast. The 32-page opinion was remarkably decisive, picking apart and rejecting one Coleman legal claim after another. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24383.html

Last edited by josh4 on Jun-30-2009 at 20:31

quote:

Originally posted by josh4 He very well could but a) the governor has suggested he would certify Franken should the court rule that way,

There's an important distinction to make here. Pawlenty carefully toed the line and said he would certify the result if the State Supreme Court "compelled" him to - and they did not explicitly instruct him to do so in this ruling. He created enough space to wiggle out of any compunction on his part.

quote:

b) a unanimous decision is hard to argue with. Any further action by Colman at this point is obvious political stalling by Republicans.

Hasn't it been this entire time? We've known since Jan. 1 that the outcome was inevitable.

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Coleman conceded. Can we close this thread yet and stop the meaningless debate?

minnesota is a weird state - electing a professional wrestler for governor and then electing a terrible dipshit comedian for senator.