Salopblog

Coleman Preparing Case for the Supreme Court

Even I am getting bored with this procrastination – I would have thought that by 23/05/09 (7 months since election) I would have closed down the US election thread but it apparently still has legs – this from Electoral-vote.com

The Minnesota Supreme Court now has briefs from both Norm Coleman (R) and Al Franken (D). The lawyers will present their cases before the court on June 1. Then the court will render a verdict, probably within a week or two. In fact, it is hard to imagine that the justices will learn anything on June 1 that they don't already know. In case he loses, Norm Coleman is ready to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is very unlikely Franken will lose outright. Courts really, really, really, don't like to overturn elections. His worst-case scenario is that the Minnesota high court sends the case back to the lower court for a do-over using different rules. Coleman's argument is fundamentally that different rules applied to different counties and that's not fair. Of course, different counties have different voting equipment, which may not be fair either, but that's how it is.

Fat lady might get to sing in 2 months!

After losing his case in court, former senator Norm Coleman (R) is appealing to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Coleman's brief is due April 30th. Franken then has until May 11 to respond. Coleman can file a rebuttal up until May 15. Then the lawyers will argue their cases before the five justices on June 1. Two of the seven justices have recused themselves because they served on the state canvassing board earlier in the process. So Minnesota definitely won't have a second senator until June at the earliest.

Coleman Files Appeal to Minnesota Supreme Court

As expected, Norm Coleman filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court asking the court to reverse the election. Since the three-judge panel overseeing the election contest very specifically addressed all the points Coleman made in his appeal, it will be an uphill climb for him. Even if they concede on some of the points, Coleman still has to find a net of 313 votes to win. The appeal could take several weeks or longer.

I just can’t let go until she sings.

Made me smile .. alot

Palin's choice for Attorney General was rejected by the Alaska legislature     

Palin's appointee, Wayne Ross, was rejected by the state legislature 35 to 23. The rejection was especially painful because the Republicans control the legislature so the defeat was not foisted on her by Democrats trying to damage her 2012 run, but by her own party.

Ross, a well-known figure in Alaska politics and a current director of the NRA, has made some controversial remarks in the past, including calling gays "degenerates" and saying it is all right for a man to rape his wife. If she runs for President in 2012, Palin's primary opponents are going to bring this up over and over, saying that she is a terrible judge of people and would make horrible appointments as President

A prelude to the Minnesota Supreme Court hearing next week

Nationwide, election litigation has taken off since the turn of the century, according to a forthcoming Stanford Law Review study by Loyola Law School professor Rick Hasen. He documented 361 cases that reached state or federal courts in 2004 and 297 cases last year, encompassing campaign finance and redistricting challenges as well as voting administration disputes. Before 2000, he said, the average was 94 cases per year.

But Hasen said only a small percentage of the cases involve lawsuits by a candidate over the results of an election.

As a result, the case law directly applying to the questions in this election is limited. The most famous recent election case is Bush v. Gore, a much-debated U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively ended the 2000 presidential race. In its 5-4 decision, the court tried to tailor its decisions to the facts at hand, noting that "the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities."

Without many cases to consult, Minnesota's Supreme Court might have room to maneuver.

"One of the problems when you don't have precedent is that opens up the ability for judges to be much more creative and their creativity may reflect their partisan viewpoints," said Pitts, the Indiana University professor. "Precedent can do a pretty good job of cabinning the partisan preferences of judges."

giveitupnorm.com

News from Minnesota

…the absentee votes that the 3 judge panel ruled as legal were counted yesterday and Al Franken's lead expanded from 225 votes to 312 votes. Coleman has virtually no chance of winning the election contest.

Coleman will appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court and probably to the US Supreme Court if he loses that one.

The fat lady ain’t even warming up!

387 New Ballots to be Counted in Minnesota

All counties have now complied with the court order to supply absentee ballots that were previously rejected but which are legal under Minnesota law. There are 387 and the 3 judge panel is expected to open and count them this week. Since Democrat Franken leads Republican Coleman by 225 votes, Coleman would need 79% of these absentee ballots to win. That is extremely unlikely, so Coleman has already said he will appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court.  Don’t see no fat lady yet!

Race goes on

A 400 further previously rejected ballots in the Minnesota Senate race will be recounted and the results announced on April 7th (2009 that is) when the 3 judge panel will declare Franken or Coleman the winner.

Seeing as Franken has already a 225 vote lead and the 400 rejected ballots come from a strong Franken polling districts it seems game over for Coleman - but, as the fat lady at the Supreme Courts (State and Federal) have not sung, the race is still on.

This will go to Supreme Court I guess

A state court could rule any day now on Norm Coleman’s challenge to Al Franken’s 225 vote lead in Minnesota.

Republicans are encouraging Norm to be litigious  and take his fight to the US Supreme Court if he loses this round, believing that a strung out court case would be worth it if it denies Democrats of the 59th Senate seat that Franken represents.

Read Politico article here