On a conference call with reporters just now, held in the wake of the election court’s ruling to review only 400 ballots for possible inclusion — and explicitly rejecting Coleman’s calls for leniency in the standards and the burden of poof — legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg made it absolutely clear: “If these rulings stand in any final order of the court, if it will give us no choice but to appeal that order to the Minnesota Supreme Court.”
Ginsberg followed up on his previous ridicule of the court’s February 13 ruling that required strict standards for letting ballots in — which he would refer to as the “Friday the 13th Ruling” — by giving this one a new name: “The Almost April Fool’s Day Ruling.”
Ginsberg said the court was “subsumed with its own logic” to require strict standards, despite local officials on Election Day being much more permissive. When asked when he realized the court would not bend, Ginsberg said: “Our recognition that the court was not going to change came roughly 97 minutes ago, when we got the order.”
“I gather we fundamentally disagree with them,” he said later. “And that’s why there are appellate courts.”
Ginsberg also strongly hinted that Coleman would keep fighting in federal courts should he lose at the state Supremes, and that he would move to stop any issuing of a certificate of election for Franken until the federal proceedings were over. A reporter asked Ginsberg about the widespread view that the state Supreme Court’s ruling weeks ago, denying Franken an immediate certificate of election, also heavily implied — or perhaps even directly stated — that a certification would come after the state Supreme Court rules, without requiring federal appeals to finish up.
“I believe that what that ruling says is that there absolutely cannot be a certification before the Supreme Court rules — which is a pretty logical thing for the Supreme Court to say,” said Ginsberg. “But the question of a certification after that is, I think, an open legal question. Certainly nobody has any precedent on it.”
When pressed further on this point, Ginsberg said: “Well, we suspect that the Minnesota Supreme Court will recognize the wisdom of our position. So — ha! — I’m not prepared to answer that at this point.”
A Franken campaign conference call with lead attorney Marc Elias, which was held shortly before the Coleman call, was much less eventful for obvious reasons. Elias agreed with the ruling, and said of the remaining ballots: “Obviously, the math is going to be very difficult for former Sen. Coleman and his lawyers at this point.”
When I asked Elias whether he considered this ruling to be a win for his side, or not a win, he said: “It’s a win for the people of Minnesota.”
One other point: At this early juncture, neither Elias nor Ginsberg could say how many of these 400 ballots were from their own side’s list of submissions. But their reactions to the ruling speak for themselves.
