Minnesota Recount Almost Over -- But Coleman Could Keep A Franken Win Bottled Up For Weeks
By Eric Kleefeld
TPM
Al Franken could be declared the winner of the Minnesota recount as soon as Monday, but due to the peculiarities of Minnesota election law, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) could keep the seat bottled up in the courts for weeks or even months before a decisive resolution to the race, making it harder for the Democratic majority in the Senate to seat Franken on even a provisional basis.
Assuming Franken emerges as the recount winner at Monday's meeting of the state canvassing board, what happens next?
The Coleman campaign has publicly guaranteed that they will file an election contest, challenging the result in court. That would be a key development because Minnesota law actually prevents the issuing of a certificate of election to the winner until a contest proceeding is settled (unlike other states that will certify a win, and then allow the loser to pursue legal challenges if they want).
The bottom line here is that even if Coleman ultimately loses the recount plus the formal court contest, he could be able to drag out the seating of Franken for quite some time, well beyond next week's swearing of the 111th Congress.
The contest will be filed in state courts, but due to the presence of various constitutional questions like equal protection and the fact that this is a race for a federal office, it could conceivably go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Coleman would be the plaintiff and the burden of proof would be on him -- Franken would not have to prove that he won, Coleman would have to demonstrate that he was robbed. And the Franken campaign would have full legal standing to come in and dispute any claims Coleman is making.
(More here.)
TPM
Al Franken could be declared the winner of the Minnesota recount as soon as Monday, but due to the peculiarities of Minnesota election law, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) could keep the seat bottled up in the courts for weeks or even months before a decisive resolution to the race, making it harder for the Democratic majority in the Senate to seat Franken on even a provisional basis.
Assuming Franken emerges as the recount winner at Monday's meeting of the state canvassing board, what happens next?
The Coleman campaign has publicly guaranteed that they will file an election contest, challenging the result in court. That would be a key development because Minnesota law actually prevents the issuing of a certificate of election to the winner until a contest proceeding is settled (unlike other states that will certify a win, and then allow the loser to pursue legal challenges if they want).
The bottom line here is that even if Coleman ultimately loses the recount plus the formal court contest, he could be able to drag out the seating of Franken for quite some time, well beyond next week's swearing of the 111th Congress.
The contest will be filed in state courts, but due to the presence of various constitutional questions like equal protection and the fact that this is a race for a federal office, it could conceivably go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Coleman would be the plaintiff and the burden of proof would be on him -- Franken would not have to prove that he won, Coleman would have to demonstrate that he was robbed. And the Franken campaign would have full legal standing to come in and dispute any claims Coleman is making.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home