First, there was the election. Then, there was the recount. Then, the legal contest. Then, the appeal of the ruling in the legal contest.
Now, nearly seven months after the ballots were cast, it all comes down to this: The Minnesota Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments in the appeal by Norm Coleman of the ruling handed down by the three-judge panel that made up the Election Contest Court. That ruling upheld and confirmed the results of the recount than Al Franken won and Norm Coleman lost — a recount that Coleman tried to stop even though it was mandated by state law.
You can watch the whole thing live, starting at 8:30 am Central Daylight Time, at The UpTake.
UPDATE: 9:15 am CDT — From the UpTake’s live blog: "Logie: For those just arriving: Justices essentially say, ‘Why is Coleman’s case so crappy?’"
UPDATE: 10:23 am CDT — Well, it’s done. The UpTake counted up the number of questions that were asked by the Justices to each side. The reason: In the US Supreme Court, a study has shown that the more questions Justices ask of a side, the more likely a side will lose. (The UpTake didn’t count the questions asked during Norm’s rebuttal.) Final count: Coleman 26, Franken 18. Furthermore, the judges were at times quoting from Team Franken briefs. I think we know where this is going.
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What’s the “estimated timetable” for getting an opinion from the court?
8:31 am Central Daylight Time.
Hey, we can dream, can’t we?
As WineRev mentions this morning over at DKos, the judges have — almost literally — tons of paperwork to wade through: They’ve had to look at 19,000 pages of trial record, over 1,800 exhibits, and the testimony of over 140 witnesses. They’ll be going over it again in the wake of the oral arguments today. It could be anywhere from a few days to two to three weeks.
I noticed something very interesting from the arguments. Franken’s attorney, Mark Elias, made the point that Minnesota has chosen repeatedly to make in-person voting as easy as possible and that it runs counter to other states (like Washington) that have favored absentee voting. Minnesota and Washington seem to be heading in opposite directions.
Counter to this, naturally, Coleman’s lawyer essentially argued that the MN Supreme Court should throw out all election law and make absentee voting the most important kind of voting in the state.
ZOMG, aren’t we there yet!!
Uh-huh. Yeah, let’s throw out case law that’s been settled at the USSC level for nearly half a century now. That’s one heck of a way to win over judges!
Don’t forget Oregon, which has (in essence) gone entirely to absentee ballots. All Oregon elections are now conducted by mail.
We will be, probably within three weeks at the outside. As I noted earlier, the Soopers now have to digest this all in the context of the 20,000-odd pages of stuff already generated by the recount, contest, and appeal. The good news is that it looks like today’s oral arguments didn’t change any minds on the bench, but will only confirm them in their eventual rulings. (Hint: They were quoting from Franken’s people’s briefs, which is a very good sign for Franken.)
Back to waiting mode.
Oh, and guess what? The bill in the Minnesota legislature that would have reformed the absentee-ballot process — and thus cleaned up the system by dealing with problems that actually do occur with absentee ballot voting — was opposed by the Republicans and vetoed by Republican Governor Smilin’ Tim Pawlenty. Why? Because it didn’t have a provision for insisting on photo ID, a provision that’s supposed to prevent a type of voter fraud that has never occurred in reality, but which actually serves to keep the poor and elderly, who tend to vote Democratic, away from the polls. Hey, Joe Friedberg! Wanna argue “equal protection violation”? I gotcher equal protection violation riiiiight heeeere!
serves them right!
thank you so much for documenting this mess.
CNN reporting a suspicious package at the White House
There are only three things that the winning side needs to provide.
A codpiece? I thought he was kicked out of there.
I’m gonna guess a nationwide right-wing cry-fest regarding “activist judges”.
I will be sorely disappointed if I don’t hear that this is an example of why Sotomayor must not be confirmed… …not that this follows any logic!
Obama’s package may be extraordinary but not suspicious.
rut ro!
I think I may have meant Oregon when I said Washington. Sorry for the confusion, Oregon is the leader in vote-by-mail I believe. As for Minnesota, I think nobody makes it easier to vote in person except North Dakota, which has no voter registration.
By the way, I think the study on the Supreme Court and questions shouldn’t be applied to state supreme courts, there’s little correlation there that can be safely extrapolated.
Here you go!
isn’t franken entitlted to fees win or lose?
have those been awarded or determined yet?
I’m just wondering… what happens if for some unforeseeable reason, the 4400 ballots get counted and Franken still wins, and, inevitably, Norm still won’t concede, and tries some other argument (such as the statistical one his team has made on ocasion) on for size? (and Pawlenty,’cause he works for Party Chairman Rush, still won’t issue the certificate).. I’m just sayin’ that expecting these people to be reasonable doesn’t seem like a winning proposition to me.
Oh, by the way, lookee what Norm had to say about the Supreme Court nomination process, in his capacity as ex-Senator and professional sore loser:
“Are they intellectually competent, do they have a record of integrity, and most importantly, are they committed to following the Constitution rather than creating new law and policy. When I am re-elected, I intend to review Judge Sotomayor’s record using this process.”
Ummm….
Once Al gets certified and takes his rightful senate seat, do we get to sequester a freshman GOP senator away from DC for half a year? Fair is fair.
Morning, PW et al.
Re Norm’s statement on judges – I have a suggestion for a vacation cruise to recuperate from learning he has NOT been re-elected:
http://www.travel-to-egypt.net…..ises_1.jpg
ooh, I like that.
Not that fairness is the GOP’s concern at any time.
didja all hear about the Repub congressman’s statement issued this am complaining that “the UAW” was unfairly treated better than the GM investors?
Sigh.
WHY haven’t they RULED yet? What’s taking so long?
I know they have to go through all the documentation of the previous activities, but they’ve had WEEKS already to review it! We all KNOW what they will rule! Let’s just get ON with it!
Sorry, I get carried away sometimes. I’m ready for MN to have its second Senator, and Normie is just chubbing (a term I learned from Texas recently)!
Go Team Franken!
pw I think you’re gonna like this live blog of the day in court, good reading
Oh, it’s lovely. How screwed is Norm? They’ve yet to find a single law expert who says he has a chance. In fact, most are thinking the SC will find unanimously for Franken.
After this he will go to the Supreme Court of the United States and then the Gov will not be available to sign whatever must be signed so that Franken will never be a Senator and the little boy Repubs will sit in the corner and pout until the next election. The Dems will roll over for the Repubs like they did the entire time “W” was in office. You think the Repubs would let a Democrat get away with this???? NO WAY!!! Repubs….classy, moral values??????? JOKE….”W”’s smutty smell, along with all his cronies is still alive and well.