CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– POLITICS
May 11, 2009 – 6:58 p.m.
Franken Asks Court To Give Minnesota Governor A Direct Order
By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff
Al Franken asked the Minnesota Supreme Court on Monday to affirm his victory in the 2008 Senate race and hand down a ruling that would direct Gov. Tim Pawlenty to certify him the winner.
“We think the law is clear,” said Franken's lead attorney, Marc Elias, pointing to a state Supreme Court ruling on the matter in February that he said indicated “that the certification would issue after the state court process ended.”
The Minnesota “Supreme Court is the end of the state court process,” Elias noted.
The request came as part of Franken’s reply brief to Republican Norm Coleman’s appeal of a trial court decision that declared Franken the Senate winner by 312 votes out of 2.9 million cast on Nov. 4.
It seeks to pre-empt any attempts by Pawlenty, a Republican, to delay the certification should Coleman opt to appeal his case to the federal courts, something the one-term senator has not ruled out.
Noting that Pawlenty has “expressed some ambivalence or some confusion” over when he will need to sign the certification, Elias said the brief is “asking the court to reaffirm what it has already said so that Gov. Pawlenty will not have to worry about which way to turn here.”
State law requires the governor and secretary of State to sign the document before it is official.
All sides involved acknowledge the certification is critical for Franken’s seating in the Senate, which would make him the Democrat’s pivotal 60th vote, the threshold for overriding a filibuster.
Democrats have held off attempting to seat him until the state Supreme Court rules, hopeful the race will end there. Republican leaders, however, are encouraging Coleman to continue his legal challenge at the federal level, should he lose, and are threatening a fight to hold off seating Franken if he does. That would be much more difficult if Franken has a signed certification from the Republican governor.
Pawlenty has been evasive about the timing of the certification, saying he may need to review the ruling and other legal guidance. But he has also said that he will abide by the law on the matter.
Comments
Asking the court to issue a directive to the Governor is not normally something I would support however in this case more than appropriate. The state will have gone through 2 judicial reviews and an appeal to the US Supreme Court placing the process out of the hands of the State that represents the voters.
I agree it is time to end. This has gone on far too long. Coleman does not care about Minnesota, he only cares about winning if it means losing his sense of dignity. It is like the stalker who refuses to accept that it is over.
This latest machination by the Franken camp seems a bit too heavy-handed; better to stand back and let Pawlenty and fellow co-partisans self-destruct in the court of public opinion. As for the anti-filibuster threshold, with the 57 Democrats (including Specter), the 2 NE Indies, and the Mademoiselles from Maine, that already exists in the functional sense. Thus, the primary rationale for the (expected) seating of Franken is (and ought to be) full representation for MN in the Senate , just as FL was duly represented in the Electoral College in 2000!
This has gone way past trying efforts by Coleman to win an election. This is just lawyer-fueled delay tactic.
Florida was not represented in 2001 Electoral College! The folk the majority voted for were hijacked and Impostors put in their place. Florida was nowhere near as close as Minnesota and an actual total vote count such as MN had would have shown that . Instead the looting and destruction of the country will take many years to clean up if it is managed at all. 1000 years from now the Bush hijack of America will be remembered like Caesar crossing the Rubricon as the point the civilization crested and started to crash. there are really many such turning points, but that will stand out. Obama could have brought dramatic change that would have saved everything, but it would have had to be as dramatic as the Y2K hijack and that is not his style.
The US Senate should invoke reconciliation from now until Senator Franken is seated for added leverage.
No one's Constitutional Rights have been violated in the counting of the votes. Therefore, this is purely a state matter, and the Supreme Court has no legal jurisdiction over this matter. But Congress does have jurisdiction. The Party of NO could still attempt to filibuster Franklin's seating, which would be suicidal for them, again.
Norm Coleman needs to end this and save his state the despair. Al Franken is the rightful winner.
Breaking News for republicans: You lost!
As the people of Florida were represented in 2000? In which fantasy land? Reality check here boys. NORC counted the overvotes that Bush v. Gore prohibited (mandatory to be counted under 2000 Fla. Title IX (s) 101.5614(5)) Gore won. The people of Florida, and the United States, were stripped of franchise.
Yup, this was the true case of 'Taxation without Representation;' not the teabaggers' similar claim 8+ years later! I have been (falsely) unrepresented for all those years thanks to the Supreme Court and the Florida decision! Where were they when Florida happened? Time to say, "NO MORE!"
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