Minnesota court ruling supports Franken; Coleman appeal likely Jeremy Gantz

Published: Tuesday March 31, 2009





Print This Email This It could very well be the beginning of the end for Norm Coleman. Or the harbinger of a whole new legal battle for his tireless lawyers.



As much as Al Franken's lawyers celebrated it Tuesday, the long-awaited Minnesota state court ruling on Norm Coleman's appeal of the Senate race recount has  you guessed it  not quite put an end to the post-election showdown, now more than four months long.



A three judge panel has ordered that up 400 absentee ballots that were rejected by election workers be opened and reviewed  far fewer than the 1,300 Coleman argued should be counted. The ballots will be reviewed and many of them may be counted by Tuesday, April 7th  or not.



To be clear, not every absentee ballot identified in this order will be ultimately be opened and counted," the ruling said.



Franken was left with a 225-vote lead after a hand recount of the election's result in November, so an overwhelming portion of the 400 ballots would have to go to Coleman for him to lose his lead. The decision is being celebrated by the Franken campaign as a win.



"The math is the math," Marc Elias, Franken's lawyer, said after the decision was announced Tuesday afternoon. "We'll find out on Tuesday [April 7th] what's in these envelopes (but) the math is going to be very difficult for former senator Coleman and his legal team at this point... The vast majority of those (absentee ballots) were properly rejected."



But even if the former comedian retains his lead after the court reviews the new lot of 400 ballots, a federal appeal case may be looming on the horizon. On Monday, Texas Sen. John Coryn threatened "World War III" if Democrats tried to seat Franken before Coleman's team pushed a potential appeal through federal courts.



If Franken is seated, he would be the 59th Democrat in the Senate, leaving his party just one vote shy of a filibuster-proof majority.



A few minutes after Franken's lawyer embraced the court's decision this afternoon, a Coleman attorney did exactly the opposite, calling the ruling "wrong" and vowing to appeal if necessary.



"If these points stand in any final order of the court, it will give us no choice but to appeal that order to the Minnesota Supreme Court," Ben Ginsberg said. "It is unfortunate that the court has taken this tact because it continues to disenfranchise thousands of Minnesotans."



The seemingly endless struggle could end up costing Coleman if ultimately loses: In legal documents filed early this month that summarized his side of the case, Franken asked the Minnesota state judges hearing the U.S. Senate trial to require his Republican opponent to pay court costs and some opposing attorneys' fees if Coleman is unsuccessful in his lawsuit, Raw Story reported.















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