| The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled: DFLer Al Franken beat Norm Coleman last year fair and square, and is eligible for an election certificate that will allow him to be seated in the United States Senate.
You can read the decision here.
Unfortunately, the decision does not explicitly order Gov. Tim Pawlenty to issue that certificate, so here's to hoping he won't see fit to play more dirty partisan games with Minnesota's second Senate seat.
Time for Senator Franken to get to work.
Here's the abstract of the ruling -- that "per curium" at the bottom means "unanimously" .... SPECIAL RELEASE OPINION FILED JUNE 30, 2009
A09-697
In the Matter of the Contest of the General Election held on November 4, 2008, for the purpose of electing a United States Senator from the State of Minnesota, Cullen Sheehan and Norm Coleman, contestants, Appellants vs. Al Franken, contestee, Respondent. Ramsey County.
1. Appellants did not establish that, by requiring proof that statutory absentee voting standards were satisfied before counting a rejected absentee ballot, the trial court's decision constituted a post-election change in standards that violates substantive due process.
2. Appellants did not prove that either the trial court or local election officials violated the constitutional guarantee of equal protection.
3. The trial court did not abuse its discretion when it excluded additional evidence.
4. Inspection of ballots under Minn. Stat. ยง 209.06 (2008) is available only on a showing that the requesting party cannot properly be prepared for trial without an inspection. Because appellants made no such showing here, the trial court did not err in denying inspection.
5. The trial court did not err when it included in the final election tally the election day returns of a precinct in which some ballots were lost before the manual recount.
Affirmed. Per Curiam.
Took no part, Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson and Justice G. Barry Anderson.
Update: Norm Coleman is scheduled to speak at his home in St. Paul at 3 PM. Al Franken is scheduled to speak at his home in Minneapolis at 3:30 PM. Does this mean a concession is coming from Coleman?
Does it also mean reporters are going to be driving at extremely dangerous speeds on I-94 westbound at 3:25?
Update 2: Franken has moved his appearance to 4:15. Rumors that it was to prevent multiple fatalities on 94 westbound could not be confirmed or refuted.
Update 3: According to a legal eagle of a reader, "per curiam" is a political move on the court's part. It is designed to shield the court, but does not necessarily mean that the decision was unanimous. It does, however, mean that an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court will be extremely difficult for Team Coleman, since there are no dissenting opinions to use. |
