Gov. Tim Pawlenty says he intends to sign an election certificate in Minnesota's long-running U.S. Senate race once the court rules on the matter.

Pawlenty said on CNN's State of the Union program Sunday that he expects the Minnesota Supreme Court to rule on the case soon. He also said he expects the court to direct him to sign the election certificate and will sign it if the court instructs him to do so. He said he also won't wait too long if the case is appealed on federal court.

"A federal court could stay or put a limit on or stop the effect of the state court ruling if they chose," he said. "If they do that, I would certainly follow their direction but if that doesn't happen promptly or it drags on for a period of time, then we need to move ahead with signing the certificate if I'm ordered to do that by the state court."

Pawlenty didn't say what he would do if the court didn't direct him to sign the certificate.

The Minnesota Supreme Court is currently considering Republican Norm Coleman's appeal of a lower court ruling that declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of Minnesota's 2008 U.S. Senate race. Franken currently leads Coleman by 312 votes.