We hear the wait for a Franken-Coleman decision from the Minnesota Supremes may be about over.
Minnesota Supremes rule unanimously for Al Franken.
More shortly …
Key quote …
For all of the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under Minn.
32
Stat. § 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.
Our full report on the Court’s decision.
Who was who in the endless Franken-Coleman court battle? Check out our slideshow of all the key figures.
And where does this go from here? Is it over? We’ll know a lot more by the end of the day. But here’s what we can tell you as of this moment. The Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision was telegraphed well in advance. But the unanimous ruling probably shuts down whatever hope Coleman had, which was minimal, to keep dragging this out. Coleman can try to appeal this decision into the federal courts. But Bush v. Gore notwithstanding, it seems very hard to see where the Feds would want to intervene in a case where a state Supreme Court has issued a unanimous ruling. Probably even more unlikely that a federal judge would try to prevent Gov. Pawlenty from issuing the election certificate which Franken has to present to the senate to get his seat.
More likely, though I’d say still a longshot, is that Senate Republicans will try to block Franken’s seating. Over recent months, Republicans have made noises about trying to block seating Franken. A lot of that was probably puffing for partisans. But earlier on there was some chance Franken could get certification in advance of the Supreme Court ruling. Now, though, it’s gone through every last step of the process in Minnesota. And the Court ruled unanimously. So it’s really hard for me to imagine they’re going to go there. But I’ve been wrong on this front before. So if there’s any real obstacle remaining, it’s the GOP senate caucus.
Late Update: Under Minnesota appellate procedure, as I understand it, the Supreme Court’s ruling doesn’t become final for 10 days. That’s not, as MSNBC suggested a few minutes ago, a window in which to appeal to the federal courts for intervention. In fact, I’m not sure Coleman could appeal to federal courts until he asked for the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision within that 10-day window (a formality because the Supreme Court is unlikely to reconsider its own unanimous decision). But the opinion itself makes no mention of any 10 days except a reference to the period for reconsideration and doesn’t establish any timeline for federal appeal (nor could it).–DK
Coleman presser at 4 p.m. ET. Franken’s at 5:15 p.m. ET.
Note how quickly Coleman is speaking to press. Also worth noting that the Franken camp originally scheduled its presser for 4:30, then within minutes pushed it back to 5:15. I smell a concession in the wind …
Need to get something off your chest about the Franken-Coleman ruling? We’ve just opened this TPMCafe open thread for discussion. No stinkin’ thinkin’!
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the NRSC, reacts to the Franken victory:
The implications of this Senate race are particularly significant because the Democrats will now have 60 votes in the Senate. With their supermajority, the era of excuses and finger-pointing is now over. With just 59 votes, Senate Democrats in recent months have passed trillion-dollar spending bills, driven up America’s debt, made every American taxpayer a shareholder in the auto industry and now want Washington to takeover America’s health care system. It’s troubling to think about what they might now accomplish with 60 votes.
A senior Democratic Senate aide told us a short time ago, but before Norm’s concession, that Franken could be seated as early as next week. I suspect it’ll be sooner than that now.* Franken has waited a very long time for this. At least one member of Congress has stepped down and her successor been elected in the time Franken was waiting for his race to be resolved.
*Poor Al — I’m reminded that the Senate isn’t in session until next week. So he’ll have to wait a little longer.
The governor of Minnesota will sign Franken’s certificate of election today.