Norm Coleman and the GOP are continuing to lay the groundwork to keep this drawn-out legal process going even longer, as the election court is to rule some time fairly soon that Al Franken is the winner of the race.
Norm appeared on Fox News today:
Norm reminded viewers that there will not be a certificate of election right after the court rules, as it will have to be appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court: “Listen, it’s taken a long time, but this is not judicial fast food.”
Coleman was also in Washington yesterday, meeting with the NRSC. MinnPost.com caught up with him, and he reiterated that the case won’t be over soon. “Election certificates are issued at the conclusion of the legal process, and the legal process…certainly won’t be concluded at least until the Minnesota Supreme Court has a chance to review these issues,” said Norm — seeming to leave the door open to preventing a certificate from coming even after the state Supreme Court rules.
And a delay of that signature really does appear to be what the GOP will be seeking. Coleman’s legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg alluded to this on Tuesday, and NRSC chairman John Cornyn — who has predicted that the case could last “years” — has said that any federal court should issue a stay against issuing a certificate.
“As a former judge, I can tell you I don’t think a court would likely allow that to happen,” Cornyn told the Politico, “because it would essentially moot the case without giving them a chance to decide it. So I think it’s more likely a court would issue a stay in order to preserve the question for a decision.”
Contra Cornyn, there is in fact precedent for certificates of election being issued despite a losing candidate contesting the results. For example, Senate candidate Woody Jenkins (R-LA) vigorously disputed his narrow 1996 loss to Democrat Mary Landrieu, but she was issued a certificate and provisionally seated the whole time — and the Senate was controlled by the Republicans back then, too.
Also of interest, Professor Rick Hasen of Loyola has a new run-down of the likely twists and turns this case could continue to take in the judicial system, ranging from expedited appeals at the U.S. Supreme Court to drawn-out litigation of Coleman’s constitutional complaints. Hasen doesn’t think Coleman’s case has any real validity here, but we’ll see how it plays out.
