It seems like only yesterday that the rightwing blowhards were ripping into Franken for trying to overturn a valid election result through the courts.

Where's your outrage now, Sean Hannity?

Some legal friends of mine don't think there's a federal question here, so the federal courts might deny review. The interesting question is "when the contest is settled". If Normie loses in state court then files in federal, and loses in the first round, does the SOS certify pending Normie's inevitable whining all the way up to SCOTUS?

Personally, I think it's time for some good old-fashioned tort reform. Why is it that any carpet-bagger from another state who can hire a lawyer can file a lawsuit and thwart common sense and the will of the people? Time to limit access to the judicial system for these people.

;-)

Not a guarantee, a rhetorical gambit: "The Coleman campaign has publicly guaranteed that they will file an election contest"

It would not surprise me if common sense comes back to this situation.

Maybe if Franken is declared the nominal victor next week he should seek an injunction against Coleman shenanigans, and claim further that being seated at least provisionally is a matter of national security.

Norm Coleman & Co feel justified to use any means at their disposal to stem the tied of overturning the corporate plutocracy.

Look what is on the legislative horizon. Seating Franken and also seating the vacant IL and NY Senator puts the Dems at 59, now they are 56 trying to stop the full Dem Stimulus and Dem Healthcare Reform.

Even if IL and NY figure it out but that only appears to be NY right now it means that keeping this one vote off the floor important.

Of course this kind of surreal and underhanded purely political moves tend to backfire.

While this is certainly annoying and could delay important legislation, it is kind of fun to watch Coleman and the GOP soil themselves in public.

Both Norm Coleman's campaign and Al Franken's campaign have been to court as plaintiffs multiple times already.

I expect they will both go to court again after the State Canvassing Board counts some of the "Improperly Rejected Absentee Ballots."

They will both be plaintiffs to get more "Improperly Rejected Absentee Ballots" counted.

Norm Coleman's campaign will also sue over alleged double-counting of about 140 ballots.

I can see how this mess would cause the Democratic spine to wilt again, when it comes to the Illinois senate appointment. One more Democratic vote in the senate could be critical very soon, so Reid and company are very likely to approve "whats his name" as Illinois' senator quickly. He is, at least, a nominal Democrat, remember?

The problem Coleman has is that he is thought to have spent a great amount of time advancing frivolous challenges. When he challenges anything at this point people think, "there he goes again, another frivolous challenge." More importantly, the public believes that Minnesota has done an outstanding job conducting the recount. It is hard to argue that anybody else could have done it any better.

I think that the salient rule would be the rule that requires a two thirds vote to expel a member from the Senate. Since, if the election results are certified, Franken will have been seated in accordance with the law and applicable rules, the Senate would need 67 votes to deny Franken the seat. Which brings me to the question: Where the fuck do the Republicans and the press get off with saying that the "GOP will refuse to seat" Franken, as the headline blared at Huffington Post earlier today? These people either need remedial government or remedial arithmetic or both. If the election is certified, Senator Franken will be seated and barring the Minnesota Supreme Court suddenly becoming wingnutty, there isn't a goddamned thing that Coleman, the GOP or the reich wing press can do about it but whine, as I am convinced they will ad nauseum.

Good. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one having problems with these balky comments

Does anyone understand why the MNSC ruled that the campaigns themselves would have input as to which absentee ballots would be counted? Why didn't the court rule that all the wrongfully rejected absentees should be counted?

I for one, hope Coleman drags this out for as long as he can. Why deprive the State of MN from truly seeing him for the dickhead that he really is. It will only make it that much sweeter, when Al laughs his way all the way to Washington!

Let's give the Minnesota Supreme Court some credit. They can expedite the case, hear the arguments, and unless Coleman really has something of real legal merit, rule relatively quickly. Although the office of Senator is a federal office, the Constitution leaves the conduct of elections to the states, and no state has done a better job in a difficult situation than Minnesota.

Aging Reader

Mean spirited, petty, and vindictive to the very end--like the Bushes, in denying the Obamas use of Blair House until the very last possible minute.

Franken could still be able to caucus with Democrats until he is certified. The Republicans can't stop that. Coleman is true to form. Showing a complete lack of class and style. Republicans squeal like stuck pigs when they don't get their way. Remember the 'nuclear option?' I'm not aware if the MN Supreme Court is right leaning or not but from where I sit every time the Coleman people want to count or don't want to count they lose and fall further behind. They can only stall for so long. Senator Franken will be seated!

Yes, it would be interesting to get a report from an observer on the Hill as to what is happening to Coleman's Senate Office. Amy Klobuchar says she will be asking for money for extra staff so she can take over the case-work load of constitutant services that have been in process in Norm's offices, as apparently as of Jan 6th he will no longer have Senate paid office staff. So could someone look and see if packing boxes are in evidence in or around his place on the Hill?

As of now it looks like Norm has an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court on deck for tomorrow, and the counting of the absentee ballots is scheduled to begin at 9AM Saturday Morning. If you want to watch, apparently "The UpTake" will be live streaming the Saturday ballot counting. They will probably attempt to stream anything that takes place in the Court too.