The Minnesota Supreme Court

Once again, the Pioneer Press’ Rachel E. Stassen-Berger shows that she is one of the hardest-working journalists in town.  She predicted last week, courtesy of her sources, that Al Franken would use his filing in response to the Coleman appeal to ask the Minnesota Supreme Court to make clear, once and for flippin’ all, that once the Minnesota U.S. Senate race has made its way through the state courts system, the race is done and the Senate election certificate must be issued.   And she was right, as the filing shows on p. 50-51 of the PDF.

Other highlights, as underlined in the telephone press conference held by lead Franken attorney Marc Elias (recorded and noted by The UpTake, which could use your shekels):

–  Coleman’s appeal fails on 5 grounds, and Team Franken asks that Franken gets the certificate of election immediately.

–  Elias asks the Minnesota Supreme Court to order Governor Tim Pawlenty to sign the election certificate, saying it is a "ministerial duty".

– Elias asks the Minnesota Supreme Court to make it "plain and clear so there won’t be any confusion for the Governor" about signing the election certificate.

–  Elias says MN court strictly applied election law, nullifying any due process claims by Coleman. (Oh, and per Elias: Even Bush v. Gore didn’t ask to uncount and count votes. Coleman’s "equal protection" argument doesn’t stand up.)

I think you get the picture.  Even Eric Black,  who has been one of the few voices in the local non-righty online media who doesn’t think Norm’s case is totally bogus, says this:   "I’ve said that Coleman’s argument is ‘not terrible.’ And, as I’ve written before, none of us knows much about how the MN Supremes will see the issue. But I was impressed with the relentless power of the Franken reply, on the facts, the state laws, the constitutional arguments, the technicalities and an appeal to common sense."

Coleman now has until this Friday to file his rebuttal, which ought to be good for comedy relief if nothing else.  

Speaking of which — Before Michael Steele provides us any more of his opinions on the Franken-Coleman race or any other issue, he is kindly invited to demonstrate his political relevance by getting back the spending authority his string-pullers at the Republican National Committee just moved to take from him.  Thank you.