BREAKING: MN-Sen court order in; Franken Wins - barring counting miracle for Norm-April 7

[kpete]

Source: Daily Kos

BREAKING: MN-Sen court order in; Franken wins barring counting miracle for Norm April 7
by Rieux
Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 01:40:39 PM PDT

The election contest court adjudicating Norm Coleman's challenge to the 2008 Minnesota Senate election has finished and published its order (32 pages, almost half of it exhibits) this afternoon. It calls for up to 400 absentee ballots to be opened and counted on April 7 and otherwise dismisses all of Coleman's (and, I think, Franken's) legal challenges that do not impact those 400 ballots.

Last I looked, there's still nothing on the official court website. I'm told it should be posted at that site as soon as the clerk gets it, though.

Nef, in comments below, says The Uptake has the PDF of the Order (same thing I'm reading) up on the web at http://old.theuptake.org/... . I think (s)he's right.
http://old.theuptake.org/documents/Ruling090331.pdf

I put this up as I was reading, so it's a little bit discombobulated; sorry.


Read more: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/3/31/715102/-BREAKING:-MN-Sen-court-order-in;-Franken-wins-barring-counting-miracle-for-Norm-April-7

[SoFlaJet]

1. Time for the "sore losers" to "get over it"

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200903310001

[marmar]

2. I sincerely hope this is the end of it.....

Norm, sit down and STFU.

[Botany]

3. Say it Bill O'Reilly

Senator Al Franken

[mr_smith007]

25. hehehe

His big ol head will explode if he has to utter that. Can't wait to see it!

[ronnykmarshall]

35. When Al is sworn in

Fax, mail, e-mail and snail mail just those words: Senator Al Franken

[blondeatlast]

36. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!We should tell him that DU will make a huge donation in his name to whatever

charity he chooses if he will just look straight into the camera and repeat it three times--and that if he doesn't he's a lowlife coward.

[Chemical Bill]

41. I'm not donating to O'Lielly's anything.

You know he'll make it a "Right to Lie" charity or some such.

Bill

[blondeatlast]

42. The point is--we won't have to pony up ANY dough and we can mock his cowardice

all over the blogosphere.

Billo won't do it even when Franken takes his seat in the Senate. It's a big win-win for the progressive blogosphere.

[Bluzmann57]

4. U.S. Supreme Court here we come

If I were a gambling man, I'd bet a lot of money that Coleman and friends will at least try to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, if for nothing else to gum up the works a little more.

[regnaD kciN]

8. Yep -- it isn't over by a long shot...

Now, the case will be decided by the court that decided Bush vs. Gore -- except that two of the members of that infamous court have been replaced by even more radical partisan Republicans.

Of course, I can't see how they could possibly rationalize interfering in this contest to benefit the Republican -- then again, that's exactly what I said in December 2000, after the Florida Supreme Court ordered a full recount.

:scared:

[glinda]

33. Yip. Norm's only hope is to shove it up to the Supreme Court so they can lie him in.

Norm is an asshole.

[AlinPA]

10. Coleman will be seated by SCOTUS.

[Mister Ed]

12. I don't think they could seat him directly

If they choose to buy his claim that Minnesota's election was somehow unconstitutional, then I guess they can nullify the election. But that still doesn't make Norm the winner.

[AlinPA]

13. Then they wouldn't take the case if they can't declare him the winner.

(Yours is a good point, but they have a lot of power.)

[BattyDem]

24. Funny how Coleman didn't think it was unconstitutional when he declared victory on election night

"This election is unconstitutional because Franken insisted on a recount and when all the votes were finally counted, I didn't win!" :eyes:

Reid better seat him after those final 400 ballots are counted. The recount was done, it went through the courts - enough is enough!

[AlbertCat]

38. The recount was done, it went through the courts - enough is enough!

Yes....The state is underrepresented in the Senate. A fact the Repugs don't care about. I hope constituents are paying a little bit of attention. Seat the Senator. Even if it's going thru Fed. Courts. It's really a STATE matter. I mean if this isn't, what is? What happened to all that RW state's rights crap? As far as I'm concerned, the constitution says the state deserves 2 senators. If the state is through with the court battle, then it's time to seat someone. Even if the Feds come in...for some unknown reason...

[NYC Liberal]

15. The Senate can tell him to fuck off.

"Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members"

SCOTUS won't have any excuse here - it's plain as day. There are no ambiguities...the Senate can and should tell Coleman to leave federal property or be arrested for trespassing should he show up.

[No Elephants]

20. If the Senate is the judge of the election and returns of Al, why is the case even in the MN courts?

[NYC Liberal]

21. The Senate will let the courts run their course

They can, of course, seat him and be done with it. But I guess they don't to end up looking like the 2000 SCOTUS (even though here they obviously have the clear-cut power to step in).

[myrna minx]

28. We have a set of election protocols in place, which begins with the courts

but eventually this will wind up being decided in the Senate, imho.

[robinlynne]

39. When congress was owned by the GOP they sat their people and did not LET the

state do a recount. (SAn Diego) If the senate chose to seat Franken that would be the end of it. They could have done it at any time!

[RedCloud]

30. repugs would lose virtually all elections ever after.

Bring it on! America will not tolerate even more unfair play.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. So I guess the RNC will now launch a full scale attack using MIRVs...

I mean this is WW III after all

Oh and O'Reilly saying Senator Al Franken will be SWWWEEEETTTTTTT!

[Jefferson23]

6. I can't wait to read the lame appeal, hang in there Al, we are

still rooting for ya!

[Mister Ed]

9. Rooting and sending contributions!

https://secure.alfranken.com/page/contribute

[Patsy Stone]

7. K&R

Because maybe it's really almost over.

[Number23]

11. When this finally comes to a damn end, I'm gonna dance like there's no tomorrow

[Zorra]

14. Weather Alert: Conservative blowhard hot air shitstorm approaching.

This is going to be the comedy of the decade
:popcorn:

[Nothing Without Hope]

16. Thanks for the good news! Here's a LINK to the BradBlog piece on this:

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7033

Bradblog is also (IMHO) the best blog for updates on vote-related stories; Brad's has stayed on top of the Franken/Coleman fight all along. Now, assuming that counting miracle doesn't happen in the 400 ballots, we'll see just how far the GOP is willing to go to keep Franken from being seated (Cornyn has threatened "world war III") and how far their abuse of the election system is allowed to go.

[aquart]

17. I sincerely invite Sen. Cornyn to start World War III.

[Dinger]

18. No "Woo-Hoo" From Me Yet

But when Al is seated, . . WATCH OUT!!!!!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. k

[No Elephants]

22. To win, Coleman has to get 313 of the 400 votes, or win in the SCOTUS and in the Senate. Right? I

don't get why this case is even in the courts. Why did the Senate just not decide it per Article 1, Section 5 of the COTUS?

[underpants]

23. SENATOR.... AL.... FRANKEN!!!!!!!!!!!

:patriot:

[Danascot]

26. The GOP HATES Franken

This is great news. I love the sound of GOP heads exploding in the morning!

The only thing that would drive the GOP more crazy than Senator Franken would be Senator Michael Moore!

[loudsue]

37. Oh my. Senator Michael Moore. That would be so SWEET!!!!

I just don't think Michael Moore could put up with all the bullshit on a daily basis.

[TEmperorHasNoClothes]

27. it's about fucking time

[DebbieCDC]

29. It's a state issue

I don't even see how Normy has standing to go federal with this

[bobthedrummer]

31. K&R#33

[EJSTES2005]

32. Whooooo Hoooooooo

It's about damn time. Enough whining all ready. What a sore fucking loser.

[eggplant]

34. Just in time!

Now we can focus on the inevitable NY-20 clusterfuck (Scott Murphy-D wins by 57 votes! Lawsuit! Lawsuit!) that will be happening.

[progressoid]

40. I might just tune into OReilly's show just to watch him froth about this.

:eveilgrin:

[MasonJar]

43. I know the GOPers have no intention of allowing Franken to be seated

as long as they can prevent it. Norm is a pawn in their game. In fact the Supreme Court could easily pull another Gore-like decision and pur Coleman in despite the facts. I do NOT trust those Felonious Five.

[Best_man23]

44. Coleman needs Fat Tony to make a ruling

[libodem]

45. I don't trust those

absentee ballots.