SERIOUSLY, When the HELL is Al Franken Gonna Be Seated?

[romantico]

Its been since November 7th!!!!! This should have been resolved by Christmas of 2008 and NOT Christmas of 2009!!!!! Think of all the time that is being wasted. Al won't even serve a full 6 year term! How is this legal? IS there any doubt at all Al could lose this? I literally forgot about this until I was reminded last night that the election in Minnesota was still going on. Any updates? Any details? Will AL be seated by April? May? July? By time he is seated he could lose another year at this rate. Minnesota has NO SENATOR!!! Argh! Is anyone else as pissed off as I am?

[saltpoint]

1. Republicans are obstructionists. They like blocking the path

to progress.

They know they've already lost this case, but they're throwing a hissy fit anyway.

[mucifer]

2. 2 days before his term ends.

[wmbrew0206]

3. Minn election law is pretty clear

The winner cannot be certified until all legal challenges are resolved. Coleman is going to take his lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court, so all the law suit will probably be resolved around mid-May. So I think Franken will be seated around June.

[sellitman]

4. If it goes to the Supreme Court Franken will loose.

Tell me why I'm wrong.

[romantico]

5. If it goes to the Supreme Court

How can he lose? I mean, he got the most votes and the Supreme Court would NEVER declare the person with the most votes the loser.That would be insane! (LOL)

[Hawaii Hiker]

10. It probably won't even been heard by the SCOTUS

Electoral vote had a good piece on this debacle yesterday...


Minnesota Election Contest Ends

"Contrary to all expectations, the election contest in Minnesota actually ended. The lawyers for both sides said everything they had to say. It's over. Well, the trial part is over, anyway. In his closing arguments, Republican Norm Coleman's lawyer asked the judges to set aside the law and use common sense in making a decision. This is a dead giveaway that he knows he has lost. Judges are not supposed to set aside the law and use their own judgment--and in the few cases they do, they make a real effort to show how their decision was forced because the law in question was in conflict with some other law. That is not the case here.

But Democrat Al Franken is not out of the woods yet. If Coleman loses, he will surely appeal to the Minnesota state Supreme Court, and if he loses there, to the U.S. Supreme Court. There is a fairly good chance that the U.S. Supreme Court won't take the case. They (in practice, swing Justice Anthony Kennedy) don't need another Bush v. Gore case--especially one in which a higher authority (the U.S. Senate) could embarrass them by overruling them. The most likely outcome of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is a statement that this is a matter of state law and it should be handled by the state courts. The only thing that is certain is that we are in for weeks, maybe months, of uncertainty".

www.electoral-vote.com

[CTLawGuy]

11. I think, if anything,

the Supreme Court would take it in order to explicitly overrule Bush v. Gore. I think Kennedy (and of course the four dissenters) know that the case was harmful for the Court and they would want to set the law straight.

[SoFlaJet]

12. doesn't that go against the republican platform

and "principle" of "activist judges" making rulings from the bench? Oh wait I forgot who we're talking about-the GOP have no principles-John McCain needs 9 more for his top 10 list. Anybody wanna guess what the 1st one is?

[nickinSTL]

27. common sense?

Unless I'm missing something here...what POSSIBLE common sense interpretation would seat Coleman? :wtf:

[rhett o rick]

15. Absolutely, the Supreme Court is the pinnacle of sanity. nm

[valerief]

20. Ha! Yeah, THAT's never been done before! nt

[SoFlaJet]

6. did you happen to watch the Franken lawyer's closing argument?

they got nuthin'. Also, Coleman is going to have to have 2 million bux BEFORE they get to appeal that case-talk about throwing good money at bad

[mucifer]

8. bush v Gore had nothing. How did the "supreme" court rule on that one?

[SoFlaJet]

9. That was decreed to be

a one time only deal by the SCOTUS

[rhett o rick]

16. Money is no object to the corporate cabal that wants to control the government. nm

[Spider Jerusalem]

23. Loose the dogs of war?

Loose a flight of broad-tipped arrows at his pusillanimous foe?

(You mean LOSE.)

[sallyseven]

24. The court will not hear the case

They said the one they did was the first and only and will not do it again. This is a state issue. Norm coleman will never get elected dog catcher because of what he is doing. He is such a snot

[dragonlady]

18. Al may be seated before the appeals are finished

The Minnesota Supreme Court said, in an order about a week ago, that the certificate of election could be issued to the person declared the winner by the Election Contest Court. Appeals to the MNSC and SCOTUS could proceed after the winner was seated as senator. However, it has been stated by knowledgable people on DailyKos, that in filing an appeal, Norm would have to place in escrow with the court the amount that he is currently liable for (court costs and attorney fees) from losing at the first level (estimated at $1-3 million). And it's unlikely that he can do that, unless the party wants to throw more money down the rathole. This assumes that Al wins in the ECC, which is highly likely. Coleman's lawyers have presented a haphazard case that didn't introduce much evidence that would pick up enough votes to overtake Al's lead, currently about 260 votes. So the future looks bright for a new Minnesota senator before much longer.

Here's a link to the latest in an excellent series about the recount that has been running for more than 100 installments on DailyKos: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/3/14/94032/6248/557/708310

[Captain Hilts]

7. Is the DNC giving him any legal help, etc? They didn't give him much during the election. nt

[footinmouth]

13. Votes still need to be counted

The case finished up on Friday. The 3-judge panel needs to rule on what additional absentee ballots need to be counted. From what I understand, those ballots will be sent to the Secretary of State's office and the totals will be adjusted and a winner declared. The loser can appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court and then the US Supreme Court. That's the end of the road. The Governor will not issue an election certification until all appeals have been exhausted. I understand that one is not necessary to seat the winner. If Franken prevails, perhaps the Senate will seat him as soon as the votes are counted.

[tonysam]

14. Maybe in 2015,

after Franken is re-elected.

[L. Coyote]

17. Looks like tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday.

[The_Commonist]

19. Actually, Minnesota DOES have a Senator...

Her name is Amy Klobuchar, and she's a Democrat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Klobuchar

The state will have a second senator once the process plays out.

[valerief]

21. She's on Rachel a lot, too. nt

[SoFlaJet]

22. Check out the Al Franken's lawyer's closing argument

http://theuptake.org/

you can put it on for an hour and just listen (there really isn't much to see. After hearing the case here you can plainly see the Coleman team has NOT shown burden of proof to overturn this election. All they are doing is trying to deceive the court with their tricks and lies. It ain't going to work. I can't WAIT to see Al sworn in. I wanted this election almost as bad as I wanted Obama...Paul Wellstone's legacy. Remember all the horrible stuff they said after he died? I mean RIGHT AFTER. I was here on DU reading it all.

[Dinger]

25. You Mean Like When coleman Said He Was A 99% Improvement Over Paul Wellstone?

coleman's a sick sonofabitch.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/562


During an interview with the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call last week, coleman waved an unlit cigar in the air and declared: "To be very blunt and God watch over Paul's soul, I am a 99 percent improvement over Paul Wellstone," coleman told the reporter. "Just about on every issue."

Fuck him all to hell.

[backscatter712]

26. My bet is sometime in April.

The court case is almost finished. Both sides have made their arguments, Franken completely destroyed Coleman's arguments in courts, and now the judges are deliberating.

My bet is that in a few days, they'll rule in favor of Franken. Of course, Coleman will appeal, and the appeal will get fast-tracked to the Minnesota Supreme Court. This process will take a few weeks, but they'll likely rule in Franken's favor, and quite possibly order Franken be certified and seated. I believe the only step after that (which will take place while Franken's seated as Senator,) is appeal to the SCOTUS, who probably will refuse to hear the case. Game over. We win.

That's my bet, anyways.