On a conference call with reporters just now, lead Franken attorney Marc Elias went over the election court’s ruling last night that Al Franken was the winner of this race.
“We are thrilled by the results,” said Elias. “The court showed the great care that it has shown throughout the trial in considering all of the evidence, in weighing all of the arguments made by both sides, considering the testimony of all the witnesses it had, and rendering what can only be described as a through and thoughtful final order and judgement.”
For obvious reasons, Elias has a different opinion of this ruling than Coleman legal spokesman Ben Ginsberg, who has panned the ruling and announced that Coleman will appeal it.
So what happens next?
After going over the opinion — which rejected Coleman’s claims entirely — Elias took questions from reporters on where the process goes from here, with Coleman appealing to the state Supreme Court.
“If you look at history of this court’s [the state Supreme Court] handling of matters related to the recount and the election, you can see that the court was very diligent to ensure that matters that were brought before it were considered thoroughly, but were also considered expeditiously,” said Elias. “So I don’t have a firm prediction as to how long the court might take if a notice of appeal is filed, but I would anticipate that the state Supreme Court would move on a relatively fast track.”
As for federal appeals beyond that, Elias cast doubt on just where Coleman can go. Part of the legal system is that one court doesn’t re-try the factual claims made in another — otherwise the system would become unworkable with every suit being filed twice — which leaves the U.S. Supreme Court as the only remaining avenue of appeal. And Elias doesn’t think it’s too likely that the federal Supremes will take this up, as there have been only two occasions in the last 50 years when they took up a disputed election: Bush v. Gore, and the Roudebush case from Indiana in the 1970s.
“If former Senator Coleman chooses to appeal to the state Supreme Court,” said Elias, “I think that will be the end of the road for him.”
Elias was also asked about whether state Justice Christopher Dietzen, who donated money to Norm Coleman in the years before he was appointed to the bench, should recuse himself. Elias did not come down strongly on this, saying that the decision to recuse oneself is up to the judge. He cited the prior arguments in this election, where the justices who sat on the state canvassing board recused themselves, and said nobody asked them to do it — it was up to them. The bottom line: “We will present our arguments before the Supreme Court as it’s constituted.”
