RSS FEED
Surprise, Coleman Appeals Franken Ruling - Again
Al Franken, Election reform, Elections, MN Senator Norm Coleman, Media, Minnesota Senate Race, Senator Norm Coleman, U.S. Elections, Uncategorized, politics, recounts
April 20/09
Surprise, Coleman Appeals Franken Ruling - Again
After a 7 week long trial by a three judge panel in the lower courts of Minnesota, Coleman refuses to concede his loss to challenger Al Franken. Coleman filed a notice of appeal declaring he want the Supreme Court of MN to overturn the lower court’s ruling.
Filing with the Minnesota Supreme Court, Coleman this afternoon appealed the rulings of the three-judge panel that declared last week that Al Franken received the most votes and that the 2008 U.S. Senate election was a properly executed election.
In a tightly moderated conference call, lawyers for the Coleman team, Ben Ginsberg and Jim Langdon fielded a number of questions but essentially argued that Coleman believes in “enfranchising voters, not disenfranchising voters”. When a Pioneer Press reporter asked why Team Coleman thinks any newly opened ballots would favour Coleman, they responded that opened ballots were from areas that favoured Franken, but also that “you never know what one ballot with hold.”
The state Supreme Court must now set a briefing schedule.
The chief legal spokesperson, Ben Ginsberg,noted that “We do believe that the district court got it wrong on the law … Their decision disenfranchises many Minnesotans.”
The Coleman side, according to Langdon, holds more hope of the MN Supreme Court treating their case favourably when it makes its presentation. The believe trial judges Elizabeth Hayden, Kurt Marben and Denise Reilly “may have been constrained” by past Minnesota Supreme Court cases. This reasons that the Supreme Court can take a broader view of the case the state Supreme Court and “can make new law”.
At 4:45 Central Time, the Franken Team also held a conference call and speaking of the Coleman appeal, campaign representative Mark Elias said “with effect to the merits of the claim, it’s the same old same old…what we have now are the death throes of the Coleman legal effort.”
Elias was empathetic, reflecting on how emotional and exhausting these efforts can be, but noted “at some point, they (team Coleman) have to accept the reality of what it really is”
As the dates and times are declared in this continually unfolding case, Minnesotans still remain unrepresented in the Senate with an unseated member, and one can only speculate as to the the tax burden this presents to citizens.
With regard to the the appeal, the Coleman team can not present any new legal evidence. The burden of proof continues with the Coleman case.
A ‘Statement of the Case of Appelants’ can be viewed here.http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2009/04/coleman_appeal.pdf
Replays of the Conference Calls are available via www.theUptake.Org
admin @ April 20, 2009