In an order issued just a short while ago, the Minnesota election court has now commanded Norm Coleman to pay Al Franken $94,783.15 in itemized costs from the trial.

The Franken legal team had originally asked for $161,000, but the court rejected some of the claims as either not being sufficiently documented or not justified under the loser-pays provision of the election contest law. Bear in mind that even the $161,000 claim would only have made a small dent in the millions that have been spent in this process.

This was previously the subject of much back and forth in legal filings between the two parties, with Team Coleman arguing that no costs should be awarded until after the appeals are done. With this order now hanging over them, it will now be one more thing to litigate or otherwise sort through.