Franken loses in court, full contest to be heard
posted at 9:45 am on January 23, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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A three-judge panel in Minnesota ruled against Al Franken twice in his attempts to limit the scope of the election contest to just a recount of the recount. The Norm Coleman camp rejoiced as the court agreed to review all of their points on the contest, including the double-counting of over 130 Franken votes and the lack of consistency in absentee-ballot reviews:
Al Franken’s effort to block Norm Coleman’s lawsuit over the U.S. Senate recount was rejected Thursday by a three-judge panel, setting the stage for a trial to begin Monday on the Republican’s claims.
State election law doesn’t undermine the Senate’s constitutional power to later judge the qualifications of its members, the judges said in denying Franken’s request to dismiss the election contest, as the lawsuit is called.
The panel also rejected Franken’s attempt to limit any court review to verifying math and other technicalities of the recount and canvass, clearing the way for the judges to consider Coleman claims that some votes in Democratic areas were counted twice, that some absentee ballots from GOP areas were wrongly rejected and that there were other irregularities.
The panel noted that the Minnesota Supreme Court had ruled that while those claims shouldn’t be decided during the recount, they “would be properly heard in an election contest” in court.
I doubt that Franken’s lawyers expected to succeed with either argument. Minnesota law provides for election contests to settle larger questions than just vote counts. Coleman (and Franken) had the right to contest the results and to have these issues heard in court.
Since the law has always been clear on that question, one has to wonder why the Franken campaign even bothered to argue it. Either they did so out of reflex, a shotgun approach in which they just challenge everything and hope some of it sticks, or they’re worried about the questions Team Coleman has raised. Certainly on the double-counting and the lack of uniform standards on absentee ballot reviews, Coleman does have a case for a contest, and some would argue that the Canvassing Board’s actions amounted to an unconstitutional violation of the Equal Protection Clause.
Coleman says he won’t quit until the ballots get counted correctly, even if the case has to go to the Supreme Court. Franken and Harry Reid can’t be thrilled to hear that.
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LMAO!!!!!!
grapeknutz on January 23, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Sweet! Fight on Coleman. We don’t need anymore crackpots in Washington.
Govgirl on January 23, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Finally, some good news.
mindhacker on January 23, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Excellent! I can’t wait to watch liberals’ heads explode as the Minnesota courts are forced to use Bush v. Gore as precedent. I don’t see any way this election gets resolved without a new recount with uniform standards.
rockmom on January 23, 2009 at 9:49 AM
You are trying to overlay a template of logic to discern the behavior of a man who is, euphemistically, mentally eccentric.
bryanmyrick on January 23, 2009 at 9:51 AM
Coleman: Game On!
Dr Evil on January 23, 2009 at 9:52 AM
It seems that all states would be wise to pass laws for elections that are this tight and/or no one receives 50% + 1 votes (e.g., Georgia) to revote instead of recount. It will probably be cheaper and more fair.
WashJeff on January 23, 2009 at 9:52 AM
Franken has just taken a page out of the Al Gore book – keep them counting until you are ahead, and then blame the other guy for a “futile” effort to “overturn the will of the people” and “disenfranchise legitimate voters.”
rockmom on January 23, 2009 at 9:53 AM
He better get it to the Supreme Court Fast, before Obama gets his hands on it.
Tim Pancoast on January 23, 2009 at 9:54 AM
Personally, I would have enjoyed watching this lunatic being led out of the Senate in a white tuxedo with the arms tied in the back. Then again, why waste taxpayer money putting this cheating fraud of a moonbat in for even a minute…Gosh darn it Al, you’re just not good enough….
adamsmith on January 23, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Great news.
Coleman’s not doing the usual rubber spined Republican thing and backing down graciously.
Because all we ever get for efforts like that are swift kicks in the groin from Democrats.
This seat is too important to surrender, especially to a completely unqualified, corrupt and incompetent jackass idiot like Franken.
NoDonkey on January 23, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Go Norm! Great news.
jencab on January 23, 2009 at 9:57 AM
Heh.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on January 23, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Hope! And Change!
CP on January 23, 2009 at 9:58 AM
The court make-up should not change much in the next fours years. The justices that are most likely to retire are liberal, and will be replaced by liberals. We missed on opportunity this election to move the court in a constructionists direction, but Obama will not, most likely, be able to move it in a liberal direction in the next four years.
WashJeff on January 23, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Maybe there is hope for the Suckhole State after all. Maybe.
Percy_Peabody on January 23, 2009 at 9:59 AM
I said here & here that yesterday was a bad day for the Franken campaign. That still doesn’t make Norm the likely winner but I’ll guarantee that Team Franken is consuming alot more Maalox this Friday than last Friday.
LFRGary on January 23, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Dammit, this teasing is getting excruciating.
MadisonConservative on January 23, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Upon hearing the court’s ruling, Al said, “Those %$@#*&^&%@#$%^&$%*&@!$#%^&@#$!*&#$%^%$#@*’s!!!”
Bishop on January 23, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Is Soros still funding this debacle? Wonder if he is reassessing his investment now?
sherry on January 23, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Franken lost the decision and he fights it. What happens when the complete and open recount shows that Coleman is the winner. You can bet that Franken will whine about that and threaten lawsuits.
I have never liked losing, but losing to the better man on a level playing field is a part of life and, if used as a wake-up call can make you a better person. But to lose to a loser like Franken, who has the deck stacked in his favor would indeed be a bitter pill to swallow. Fight the good fight, Coleman!
DuctTapeMyBrain on January 23, 2009 at 10:03 AM
It had to turn out this way. Otherwise the three judges would be saying that they’re just there as a meaningless sideshow. They may end up being a meaningless sideshow, but they’re not going to skip their own performance in this comedy. It’s their big break in showbiz.
RBMN on January 23, 2009 at 10:04 AM
What amazes me , is that it was even close. I mean what is this Tool’s qualifications, except being unfunny and cursing a lot.
MDWNJ on January 23, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Not that Coleman is vastly different than Franken, but I’d rather see him in, even though he’s the incumbent. I don’t like the sneaky way that Franken and his people went about this process. There was some serious deceit, and dirty tricks played.
RWLA on January 23, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Wouldn’t it be great if, under review of the court, they determined that Frankin votes HAD been counted twice (along with other nefarious indescretions)!
Here’s to wishful thinking!
FloridaBill on January 23, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Well Al there is always air Amerika
Amazed on January 23, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Go Norm. Shove this back in Ugly Al’s face and punt his ass back to NBC or Air Amerika or whatever loser career he’ll take on after he loses.
Punish this SOB and hard.
Go Fight Win. Or something like that.
JP1986UM on January 23, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Appears the are some people in Minnesota who drink water from out of that State.
Wade on January 23, 2009 at 10:08 AM
Now Al and his posse will have to recall the ‘Rat vote forgers from their caves and from beneath rocks to produce even more fraudulent votes than he had before.
GeneSmith on January 23, 2009 at 10:10 AM
We need one of those “insect” cams to fly around and follow Franken. I bet he blew his top when he heard this.
darwin on January 23, 2009 at 10:12 AM
When Coleman went to the MN Supreme Court and lost several times, what the Court really said was not that he didn’t have valid arguments, but that he was not raising them at the right time. Coleman was just premature in raising most of his claims, according to the Court.
This election contest is the proper court in which to raise them, according to the MN Supreme Court. Franken’s lawyers were asking the election contest judges to ignore their own supreme court. Not the strongest argument.
Wethal on January 23, 2009 at 10:12 AM
I mean what is this Tool’s qualifications, except being unfunny and cursing a lot.
MDWNJ on January 23, 2009 at 10:04 AM
He’s a wild-eyed liberal running for office in Minnesota, that’s all you need to be up here.
If I can’t make it south when the fighting starts, be sure to parachute supplies to me and the rest of the partisans.
Bishop on January 23, 2009 at 10:15 AM
At least this gives me a reason to suspend suicide for another 24 hours.
LimeyGeek on January 23, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Cool! That gives some hope. Great news!
sheebe on January 23, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Pray for Coleman.
ErinF on January 23, 2009 at 10:19 AM
You got it, but unfortunately i am in NJ, your in a way better position then i am right now.
MDWNJ on January 23, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Stick it to ‘em and stand up to Democrat political thuggery!
Grafted on January 23, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Amen to that!
The Senate can do without AL FRANKEN.
DPierre on January 23, 2009 at 10:23 AM
between this and the Dumping of the Princess….it is turning out to salvage an otherwise horrible week….
SDarchitect on January 23, 2009 at 10:24 AM
You got it, but unfortunately i am in NJ, your in a way better position then i am right now.
MDWNJ on January 23, 2009 at 10:21 AM
True, I can always head west after the fall, make my way to the autonomous free states of the Dakotas.
Bishop on January 23, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Good for Norm and good on the Court for demanding rule of law be placed above shenanigans.
Dusty on January 23, 2009 at 10:26 AM
I will have to make a raft, since i am a block away from the Atlantic, and float my way down to Georgia, or South Carolina.
MDWNJ on January 23, 2009 at 10:28 AM
Bush v Gore all over again…
gatorboy on January 23, 2009 at 10:30 AM
This could get VERY interesting, especially if it gets to the US Supreme Court. The Bush v. Gore decision was based on the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment, where the justices decided 7-2 that voters in ALL counties of Florida had the right to have their votes counted according to the same criteria, instead of voters in the four counties Gore wanted recounted having extra privileges over the others. The justices decided 5-4 not to let the recount proceed, based on the time requirements of seating Florida’s electors in time for the meeting of the Electoral College, and Bush’s 537-vote lead at that time was allowed to stand.
In the Minnesota Senate race, Coleman led the original vote, and various irregularities and decisions by the Canvassing Board consistently netted votes for Franken. But when absentee votes are accepted from Democrat counties and rejected from GOP counties, that should be a violation of the Equal Protection clause, as well as “contested” ballots not being judged according to the same criteria. The time constraints for seating a Senator are less pressing than for a President: there is only one President, and the country could not function well without a duly elected President, but the Senate could function for several months (if necessary) without a second Senator from Minnesota, as there have been recent vacancies in Senate seats from Illinois, New York, and Delaware.
Count ALL the votes–once each!
Steve Z on January 23, 2009 at 10:31 AM
I don’t understand. Why do the courts keep picking on Franken this way? Do they have him confused with a republican?
kanda on January 23, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Isthe Senator from South Dakota back to work yet?
Can’t remember his name.
Amazed on January 23, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Awwww, you mean Minnesota might NOT get to send the angriest and most hateful clown on the planet to the U.S. Senate? That’d be such a shame.
Aitch748 on January 23, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Yay! A Republican who isn’t afraid to stand up to a loud-mouthed Democrat!
Sir Corky on January 23, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Coleman vs Franken. Solve it the Minnesota way. Shots of home stilled Norweigen hootch washing down chucks of lutefisk. First one who pukes loses.
Mr. Joe on January 23, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Tim Johnson, and yes, he’s back. He won re-election last fall.
Wethal on January 23, 2009 at 11:03 AM
HMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Reid wanted to block Burris then turns arround and wants to seat Frankenstien because the state is short one Senator.
But that didn’t pertain to Ill.
Typ. Dam O Crap thinking.
Rick007 on January 23, 2009 at 11:03 AM
And don’t count the 133 ghost ballots from Dinkytown.
Wethal on January 23, 2009 at 11:04 AM
Time for another Tea Party and Tar and Feathering.
Buy more Ammo!!!!
Rick007 on January 23, 2009 at 11:04 AM
The Senate can do without AL FRANKEN.
DPierre on January 23, 2009 at 10:23 AM
==========================================
The world cod do without him also.
Rick007 on January 23, 2009 at 11:07 AM
No, no, I’m going to meet up with you and then we will head east to D.C. and clean up that pig sty. Just like Rick007 says:
cjs1943 on January 23, 2009 at 11:14 AM
I just hope Team Coleman was sufficiently aggressive during the recount process in terms of challenging ballots and rejections of ballots and voters and other issues. It sounds like Team Franken was much more aggressive. You have to prepare the evidentiary record if you want to win. Coleman needs to find a net of 250 votes for this to win.
Does anyone know Minnesota law well enough to know if Coleman can do some kind of grand challenge and say “all these multiple counting standards and irregularities make this election inherently illegitimate, so we need to do a re-vote?”
Outlander on January 23, 2009 at 11:20 AM
AWESOME! makes my day.
kirkill on January 23, 2009 at 11:26 AM
Keep fighting Norm. It is about damn time a Republican showed some spine and not back down!
Winebabe on January 23, 2009 at 11:27 AM
Amen to that. Five bucks says Franken’s sitting at home huddled up in a corner in his Stuart Smalley outfit, sucking his thumb and repeatedly saying “People like me! People like me! People like me!”
leetpriest on January 23, 2009 at 11:33 AM
There was an op-ed in the WSJ last week that said under Minnesota law, the Governor can order a re-vote if the eletion cannot be resolved clearly and legally. Much of Franken’s margin depends on votes in several precincts where the number of voters signed in on Election Day did not match the machine counts, and this cannot be resolved in court. I believe Coleman will end up arguing that this election simply cannot be legally resolved and must be done over. And of course, he will win if this happens.
rockmom on January 23, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Will Al throw another temper tantrum?
nor on January 23, 2009 at 11:52 AM
8 years too late IMHO, but I’m finally glad to see some GOP pushback other than W.
At some point, even Soros has got to look at ROI, right?
Kid from Brooklyn on January 23, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Stand strong Senator Coleman, do not allow a*sclown to steal this election.
Repubtallygirl on January 23, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Al Franken – low class loser, failed comedian, failed Leftist talk show host, failed Senate-wannabe. The only things he has succeeded in are:
1. Stealing money from Air America, which in turn stole money to afford Franken’s outrageous ($1.0 MILLION +) salary from charity.
2. Played an obnoxious twit on Saturday Night Live, oh that wasn’t playing?
3. Demonstrated to America that he is a spoiled, Jewish brat with visions of adequacy rustling around the vast empty spaces in his head.
SeniorD on January 23, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Are you kidding me? Franken looks like he could swallow anything. Besides, the Dems will rig it so that Franken gets thimble-sized chunks of lutefisk and Coleman gets fist-sized chunks. And what about the shots?
njcommuter on January 23, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Don’t give up Coleman and team! We don’t need another slug lime in dc. Gads, that picture of franken is just horrible.
L
letget on January 23, 2009 at 1:07 PM
I’d been wondering what was going on-no photo yet of Franken being sworn in, so…Keep Hope Alive! I don’t drink, but if Coleman is able to succeed, and I see him in a bar…he drinks free that night.
Doug on January 23, 2009 at 1:08 PM
I confess, I don’t know if Coleman is any less of a jerk than the rest, but I don’t care at this point. He needs to keep fighting against this disgusting attempt to fix an election!
Badger40 on January 23, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Franken’s a windbag….and an ass. This couldn’t be more obvious.
This should become a republican cause celebre to take a stand that will show that we’re not going roll over and let these liberal retards further infiltrate our government so they can turn it all to shit.
Enough of this and enough of the news media garbage.
Kick this clown’s ass, Coleman.
wildweasel on January 23, 2009 at 1:45 PM
From what I’ve seen so far if they consider this fairly then Coleman is probably going to win. Then it will have to play out in the senate. However, with Reid’s level of total lack of smarts it will probably still be Coleman.
duff65 on January 23, 2009 at 2:02 PM
About damned time a Republican stood his ground!
GarandFan on January 23, 2009 at 2:17 PM
In the Name of Obama, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, I present greetings and blessing upon you.
Since the law has always been clear on that question, one has to wonder why the Franken campaign even bothered to argue it.
Because lawyers are taught to bring up every possible line of defense or attack, no matter how silly. This is because usually once you’ve made your arguments, you can’t add additional items. There are some small exceptions, but it is better to go full bore at the beginning.
I R A Darth Aggie on January 23, 2009 at 2:20 PM
I like neither Coleman nor Franken, but I like the idea of suing your way into Congress least of all. This election should be declared inconclusive and there should be a runoff.
factoid on January 23, 2009 at 3:34 PM
I love this
Here frankin screams he didnt get all the votes counted
so they allow more and suddendly he gets ahead
and says
“I win stop the recount”
But BUT BUT…
When coleman then says he ok
if you are going to play that way i want ALL the votes including those 7,000 over there coutned too
Frankin and the democrats cry
LAWSUIT
there was a book by some democrat statagist who said
you keep re-counting until you get the results you want
then you scream STOP..
same thing happened here in washington
Its so bad most people realize to vote now means nothing
because the system has been so skewed to the liberals with both illegals voting, no id required, felons, the dead and even the texas rangers somehow got legal votes in some elections…
Most regular people now realize that the entire system
is about to collapse
Due to the democrats and their FRAUDULENT ACTIVITIES..
When it does it will mean open warfare..
I am serious i think its possible..
For the very system i believed in now has become so corrupted with acorn and obama who defended them in court
i dont believe in the us system any more..
If our founding fathers were alive
they would already be reaching for their flintlocks.
jcila on January 23, 2009 at 3:52 PM
HEY! That’s the Land of 10,000 Suckholes. Get it right….
Right_of_Attila on January 23, 2009 at 4:20 PM
What a surprise. A republican that actually has some ‘nads and is actually willing to fight instead of just looking at the ground and saying “okay, never mind master”. We need a couple hundred more like that.
darwin-t on January 23, 2009 at 7:34 PM
This week is actually turning out alright.
chunderroad on January 23, 2009 at 10:02 PM
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