The Minnesota Supreme Court has just issued its order establishing a schedule for Norm Coleman’s appeal of the Senate election result — and even though this schedule has been expedited by the standards of normal civil litigation, it’s going to be a while by political standards.
The court adopted the proposed briefing timeline from the Coleman campaign, allowing them more time to formulate their arguments: Coleman’s brief is to be submitted by next Thursday, April 30; Team Franken will submit its brief by May 11, and a reply brief from Coleman is to be submitted by May 15.
On top of that, oral arguments have been scheduled for June 1 — a month and a week from today.
Team Franken had called for a much quicker schedule, on the grounds that greater speed was needed in order to seat a second U.S. Senator from Minnesota, and that Coleman had already had plenty of time to come up with his arguments. But the court didn’t go for it.
Indeed, by any normal measure this timeline is itself a quick one for a state Supreme Court to be taking an appeal. But for the political world, this is not a normal case.
Late Update: Lead Franken attorney Marc Elias gives us this comment: “We are grateful that the court has issued an expedited scheduling order, and we look forward to the process continuing to move forward so that Sen.-elect Franken can be seated as quickly as possible.”
Late Late Update: Coleman legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg released this statement: “We’re pleased with the timetable the court has granted to prepare for this historic and consequential case to enfranchise thousands of Minnesota citizens who still wait for their voices to be heard, and their votes to be counted.”
