If the state Supreme Court doesn't declare Norm Coleman the winner of Minnesota's vacant U.S. Senate seat, he'll take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the head of the national Republican Party.
If the court, which hears arguments in the case on June 1, rules in favor of Al Franken, "then it's going to the federal courts," said Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Asked over the weekend if Coleman should concede to Franken if the Democrat is declared the winner, Steele replied, "no, hell no. Whatever the outcome, it's going to get bumped to the next level. This does not end until there's a final ruling that speaks to whether or not those votes that have not been counted should be counted. And Norm Coleman will not, will not jump out of this race before that."
Although many of Coleman's powerful GOP allies in the Senate have strongly hinted that his fight would go on in the federal courts, Steele's comments are the strongest suggestion to date that such a fight is considered inevitable.
i love the 60...thanks arlene
Edited on Mon May-11-09 07:17 PM by Ian David
Source: CQ Politics
Al Franken asked the Minnesota Supreme Court on Monday to affirm his victory in the 2008 Senate race and hand down a ruling that would direct Gov. Tim Pawlenty to certify him the winner.
“We think the law is clear,” said Franken's lead attorney, Marc Elias, pointing to a state Supreme Court ruling on the matter in February that he said indicated “that the certification would issue after the state court process ended.”
The Minnesota “Supreme Court is the end of the state court process,” Elias noted.
The request came as part of Franken’s reply brief to Republican Norm Coleman’s appeal of a trial court decision that declared Franken the Senate winner by 312 votes out of 2.9 million cast on Nov. 4.
Update: Franken brief rips merits, quality of Coleman case
By Eric Black | Published Mon, May 11 2009 5:22 pm
If you read the earlier quick reaction to the Al Franken brief, this is a complete redo from the top.
Team Franken's reply brief (PDF) http://www.minnpost.com/client_files/pdfs/FrankenRespon... attempts to rebut, disassemble and really demolish every aspect of Team Coleman's case. Of course, that's what a brief is supposed to do. The brief was direct and aggressive in urging the court to not only declare Al Franken the winner of the election but also to order Gov. Pawlenty to issue an election certificate without any shilly-shallying.
At times, the brief seemed to cross the line from calling Norm Coleman's arguments weak to accusing Coleman's lawyers of doing a lousy job with such a case as they had.
I'll be interested to see how Team Coleman tries to reply (in case you've lost your program, this is the one and only briefing opportunity for Franken during this, the state Supreme Court appeal. Coleman, who already filed his appellate brief, gets one more crack in a written reply due Friday. The Court will hear oral arguments on June 1. Then it's decision time.
Read more: http://www.minnpost.com/ericblack/2009/05/11/8722/updat...