No 2nd Minn. senator until at least June

[underpants]

Source: Detroit Free Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesotans won’t know who their second U.S. senator will be until at least June.

On Friday, the state Supreme Court set June 1 as the date for oral arguments in Republican Norm Coleman’s appeal of the recent election trial that concluded with Democrat Al Franken on top by 312 votes. The Senate seat has been vacant since early January, when Coleman’s term ended with the race unresolved.

The Supreme Court schedule, set by the five justices who will hear Coleman’s appeal, tracks his proposed timetable rather than a speedier one proposed by Franken.

Coleman’s Republican allies in Congress have urged him to take his fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary. He hasn’t ruled out that option.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20090425/NEWS15/90424093

[MADem]

1. Justice delayed is justice denied. How much paperwork can there be

for those guys to wade through? This is a matter of immediate import to the citizens of Minnesota.

The schedule totally sucks. It suggests a Bush v. Gore mindset, too.

[underpants]

4. The paperwork Coleman is having a hard time dealing with is...

the "Card Check" the EFCA

He knows he lost he is just trying to stop Franken from being seated to vote on the Employee Free Choice Act

[Angleae]

23. How much paperwork can lawyers generate?

Paperwork are their weapons of mass distraction.

[radfringe]

2. June???? of what year?? n/t

[Sultana]

17. 2050

Dear God, this is ridic :eyes:

FU, Coleman

[Posteritatis]

35. 2014, I'm assuming (nt)

[C_U_L8R]

3. That's just plain silly - they should seat Franken

Why does MN have to go Senator-less while some whackadoodle lawsuit sludges its way through the court system.

Franken won and he should be seated while Coleman makes his appeal.

[salguine]

5. Minnesotans should only have to pay half of their usual federal taxes until this is resolved.

[MADem]

6. That would help the GOP, though. Pawlenty could say "See--cut your taxes in half!!!"

How about the poor state suck it up, and only get half of their federal funding for programs until this situation is resolved?

The money could be put in escrow until the mess is fixed. I'm sure if people on the federal payroll started getting furloughed because there was no money to pay them, there'd be hell to pay....and quickly, too.

[underpants]

7. Can they prorate their taxes to deduct for the "Bachman factor"?

Or should only her constituents get to withhold their taxes for her?

[LiberalFighter]

12. No... all MN Congressional members should have their staff, salary and office expenditures frozen

until Franken is sworn in.

[elocs]

8. I like to hear from DUers who actually live in MN and hear how they feel. From yesterday:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3847287&mesg_id=3848227

Mister Ed Fri Apr-24-09 10:46 PM
Response to Reply #36
49. MN DUer here

I've been following this closely since November 5th. I can't claim that makes me someone who knows what's going on, but I'll give you my take on it.

I think the reason the MN Supreme Court allowed Coleman such a long time to prepare for the hearing is simply that he asked them to. I think they would have done the same for Franken if he had asked. Why? Because this is such an important matter, and they want to make sure no one has cause for complaint - at least not legal complaint. The three-judge panel allowed Coleman five weeks to try to make his case. They never once asked him to hurry it up, because they wanted to make sure he couldn't claim on appeal that he had not been given due process. I think the MN Supreme Court is thinking along those same lines.

What you say is true. The MN Supreme Court is widely viewed as being fair, judicious, and nonpartisan. I anticipate that they will rule in favor of Franken, because Coleman simply doesn't have a case. I also predict that they will do Governor Pawlenty a big favor and order him to issue an election certificate. That would get him off the hook with the GOP ("Hey, my hands are tied!").

It's become crystal clear to me that Coleman is doing all he legally can do to delay the inevitable seating of the winner of this close election. The fact that the courts have accommodated him does not mean they're complicit. He's operating within his legal rights, and the courts are upholding the law.

To sum up, I think The MN Supreme Court is acting honorably and will continue to do so, while Coleman is acting dishonorably and will continue to do so.

If a DUer who actually lives in MN and knows the Supreme Court there and is familiar with what is happening and has patience, then I think the rest of us can survive a while longer too.

[LiberalFighter]

11. IMO they could provide due process by acting sooner considering

this has been in the works since November. For Coleman to claim he didn't have enough time to prepare as a legal argument would be hogwash in the appeal process.

[elocs]

13. DUer Mr Ed who lives in MN believes the same consideration would have been given to Franken.

If it had been Franken who was behind after the recount and the courts in MN hurried it through to get a senator seated there would be screaming bloody murder here at DU that things were going too fast. Like Mr Ed and from listening to informative programs on MN Public Radio that I have heard on this subject I believe that the MN Supreme Court will rule for Franken and then they will order that he be certified the winner. Coleman will then be free to appeal elsewhere if he likes, but he cannot say that the courts in MN did not give him enough time and consideration.

MN has an excellent and fair election system using paper ballots that can be recounted. A lot of those complaining about what is happening in MN would do well to make their own state's election process as good as that in MN. When this is over Franken will be the new senator from MN and Coleman's political career in that state will be over.

[Love Bug]

14. I'm a Minnesotan who agrees with Mister Ed

I'd like to add this: I think Coleman knows his political career is dead in MN so he's sacrificing himself in order to delay as long as possible the seating of Al Franken. In exchange for this, Coleman will get support from his GOP overlords for his other upcoming trials and they will also pay for any court costs once he's defeated in this one. I expect he will also get a cushy lobbying job or two as well. He's got nothin', everyone knows it, and the courts are giving him all the time he asks for just for the reason Ed stated -- to avoid giving him further cause for appeal.

Just my $.02 worth.

[CBHagman]

25. However, I do not see that as a sacrifice.

If Coleman were anything other than a manipulative little narcissist and a member of the GOP -- and hey, sometimes they're the same thing! -- we wouldn't be going through these shenanigans. We've been through recounts and challenges where the GOPer did not triumph, and to be fair, not everyone opted for the Coleman approach.

But I agree with you that Coleman is meant to be keeping Democratic votes in the Senate down by one and also that he will feed at the trough when this is over. In fact he could be richly rewarded.

We'll all stay tuned.

[Cha]

29. May coleman's "sacrifice" be the

victim of the Law of Unintended Consequences!

[MADem]

27. You are probably not wrong--after all, if he stalls this out long enough, he

will have eaten up a lot of the time restriction for lobbying activities, too.
Of course, he can always work for a lobbying firm, just not formally be a lobbyist, too...

[AlinPA]

33. To me (in PA) it seems he is angling for the US Supreme Court where he would

win easily(5-4 or 6-3). They would take the case because they won't pass up the chance to seat a fellow republican.

[Cha]

28. Thank you for linking Mr Ed's

take on this, elocs!

[LuckyLib]

31. I'm a MN DUer, and I've run out of patience. I want an extra 6 mos. added to Franken's term once he

gets seated in the Senate. This whole sideshow is a Republican effort to keep a Democrat out of the Senate. Normie doesn't have a dime to finance this . . . it has all come from deep-pocket Republicans nationally and the RNC.

[WCGreen]

34. I like that approach...

Perhaps many people are using their own states Supreme Court as an example to judge Minnesota's Supreme Court. Here in Ohio, our court is tainted with partisanship. I know that has not always been the case so I withhold my opinions because every state operates under a unique judicial culture.

[Turbineguy]

9. The repubs should stonewall this

until 2010.

That way they can lose more seats.

[rurallib]

10. Republicans: We stand for Torture! Obstruction! Hate! Bigotry!

Can the Democrats say that?

[Cha]

30. limpbaugh, palin, jindal,

rove, gingrich, ect..sorry to be so redundant.

[Ozymanithrax]

15. Aftern the Minnesota Supreme Court...

Comes the SCOTUS...

I hope they do recognize Franken as the winner and direct the governor to give him the certificate. But only the SCOTUS will keep this formgoing to the SCOTUS, probably to be heard in 2010 or 2011.

[bobshin]

16. All we have to do is convince one of the TV networks to announce who won

and it would be a done deal, right?:shrug:

[Bette Noir]

18. That high-pitched scream you just heard was my rage and frustration.

I hope the US Supremes refuse to hear the case, on the grounds that it's a state matter, and the Federal courts have no jurisdiction.

[underpants]

19. He is likely to try using Bush v. Gore to get tot he SC

which, of course, they set the unheard of precedent of saying that it can't be used as precedent :eyes:

[AlBrattOnline]

20. norm coleman

sen. coleman will take his appeal all the way to jupiter as
long as the grand old party continues to back him financially.
he's already been given every benefit of the doubt. now it's
way past time for him to go!

it won't be hard to remember the republican obstructionism
that has been the order of the day ever since obama was
elected. i thank my good fortune every day that i awaken  in a
progressive environment. to hell with republicans and the
republican party! 

[underpants]

21. Welcome to DU

:hi:

Coleman is going to go down in history as the only politician to lose to both a former pro-wrestler AND a former comedian

of course who can forget him shrinking back into his suit from the onslaught of Galloway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyyGoPerzWc

[McCamy Taylor]

22. Stalling.

[IndianaGreen]

24. If the Minnesota Supreme Court rules for Franken, what will Pawlenty do?

I think the pressure should be aimed at the ambitious governor to certify the election results to get Franken seated, or else we will see this thing drag out until next year.

[elocs]

32. From what I have heard on MN Public Radio, Pawlenty will be ordered to certify the election.

That gives him political cover because then he would simply be obeying an order from the MN Supreme Court. Franken goes to Washington and Coleman can appeal as far and as long as he can. This will NOT drag on until next year--it will essentially be over in June.

[Posteritatis]

36. I'm more curious as to what the GOP senators will do

They've said outright that they'll try to expel him a few times, etc.

[dflprincess]

40. They said they'd do that if Reid tried to seat him without an election certificate

There won't be anything they can do once Al has that.

[DLnyc]

26. Don't get mad, get even

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[Thothmes]

37. Of course, the tune on this forum would be much

different if Coleman had a 120 vote lead. The cry would be to take it all the way to the Supreme Court.

[tomhayes]

38. Um, probably not - you're jsut cynical

Not after the completely open and fair recount. And our lawyers would not have been as dumb as his.

Or you one of his lawyers?

[Thothmes]

39. Were these the same lawyers that

worked for Al Gore in 2000.