On a conference call with reporters just now, lead Franken attorney Marc Elias celebrated the imminent closing arguments tomorrow. “This is truly not only a historic recount and election contest in its size and the long period of time that it’s gone on, but also in its thoroughness,” said Elias. “And the people of Minnesota and all the people of the United States can take a great deal of confidence and pride in the process that has gone on for the last nearly five months.”
I asked about the intriguing possibility raised to me by Professor David Schultz of Hamline University — that the Franken camp could potentially use the loser-pays provision of the election-contest law to stop any appeal from Coleman, by forcing his campaign committee to come up with millions of dollars to be placed in escrow to cover Franken’s attorney’s fees before any appeals continue.
“You know I’ve gotten a number of questions over the course of the last five weeks about the cost-shifting provision of the law,” said Elias. “And in honesty I’ll give you the same answer now I’ve given before, which is I have not spent really any time looking at it. I will now have a chance, now that the evidence is closed, to now look to the next step in this, which would be what happens post-decision by the court. But I will take a look at that and probably be in a better position to answer that in the next few days.”
