This isn’t exactly optimism from Team Coleman.
Two days ago, lead Coleman lawyer Joe Friedberg appeared on a local talk-radio show in Minnesota, for a wide-ranging interview on everything from criminal defense to college football — and oh yeah, that his client is going to lose the trial and then appeal:
Friedberg: We’ve been trying this case with the appeal record in mind, and that’s where we’re going. And it’s gonna be a very quick appeal, and then I’ll know whether or not it worked.
Rosenbaum: Well, when you say a quick appeal, are you confident that you’re gonna lose the case in front of the three-judge panel? By losing the case, I mean Norm ends up with less votes.
Friedberg: I think that’s probably correct — that Franken will still be ahead, and probably by a little bit more. But our — you know, our whole argument was a constitutional argument. And it’s an argument which is really suited for the Minnesota Supreme Court, not for the trial court. So we’ll see whether we were right or not.
On the bright side, the normally Democratic Friedberg did say that he promised Norm Coleman that in case there’s a new election, he will vote for Norm this time.
Late Update: Professor Rick Hasen from Loyola Law School has this review of the Coleman legal argument: “In the end, Coleman doesn’t have a strong equal-protection argument. Then again, most of us thought George W. Bush didn’t, either.”
