Coleman's appeal asks for more counting, wants a lower court's decision thrown out and rejected absentee ballots reconsidered »
Posted By scott4261 9 months, 1 week ago in Arts & EntertainmentBy KEVIN DUCHSCHERE and PAT DOYLE, Star Tribune staff writers
Norm Coleman's legal team urged the Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday to take dramatic action in the U.S. Senate dispute by throwing out a lower-court verdict favoring Al Franken and ordering the counting of thousands of additional absentee ballots.
In a 50-page document detailing his arguments for appeal, lawyers for Republican Coleman called on the high court to overrule the unanimous ruling of a three-judge trial panel that DFLer Franken finished 312 votes ahead in the now six-month-old election.
The trial court applied a stricter standard for counting thousands of disputed absentee ballots than was used on Election Day, said Ben Ginsberg, Coleman's legal spokesman.
As a consequence, Ginsberg said, two constitutional principles were violated -- equal protection, because similar ballots were counted differently, and due process, because the court imposed different rules to count the ballots after the election was over.
The remedy, the Coleman brief says, is either to take out a proportion of already-counted ballots that the trial court's stricter standard has made illegal, or to count additional ballots -- at least 4,900 -- similar to ones included by local officials on Election Day.
A third remedy mentioned is that the court throw out the election as unable to produce a winner, although state law doesn't provide for a new election.
Ginsberg said Coleman's lawyers are confident the argument will work because the state Supreme Court has broader authority than either the state Canvassing Board, which oversaw the recount, or the trial court, which presided over Coleman's subsequent challenge, called a contest.
"The Supreme Court, as the highest court in the state, has the obvious authority ... to look at all this and order the contest court to look at these things," Ginsberg said.
A spokesman for Franken's lawyers said they would have no immediate response.
At least one outside observer said he thought that Coleman's brief had strengths, but that the proposed remedy was problematic.
Franken's reply brief is due by May 11, followed by Coleman's response on May 15. The case will be argued before the high court on June 1.
(complete story here):
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scott4261
I'm scott4261. I live in Fayetteville, AR
I am an unapologetic, unrepentant liberal. In 2010, I predict Republicans will make some gains in the ...
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cowboygrandpa9 months, 1 week ago
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Well after the supreme dunderheads awarded GW Bush the presidency in 2000. The losers in the GOP think they should all be rewarded for being losers.
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Coleman really should give it up. He has lost and is now just showing how utterly lost the party is.
They lost because they lost the confidence of the voters. Now they want to argue that they didn't lose. They want the courts to appoint them. Doesn't that sound like a Nazi type of situation, we don't care about the peoples wishes we want what is right for the party. Bunch of Fascist pigs.
I do pray that they are healed of their stupidity soon. -
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tadair9199 months, 1 week ago
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Icantwait9 months, 1 week ago
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My Fellow Americans: It's nice to know that Liberals don't believe in the Legal System. Coleman's right and absentee votes should have been counted. He's just exercising his Constitutional Rights. Yes, but the New Liberals do not believe in the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or The Sherman Anti Trust Act. The Real American
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Ciera-Marie9 months, 1 week ago
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They were. If you've followed this from the very beginning you'd know that Coleman was the one trying not to have absentee ballots counted. Now he's singing a different tune.
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Our judicial system in MN ruled that Franken won the election. Coleman is not keeping his word that he'd concede defeat if it was found in favor of Franken. That hasn't happened. He has lost the election. The people of MN have spoken and if he ever tries to run for election in MN God help him. He won't succeed. He ran against Wellstone on the premise that Wellstone didn't keep his word not to run for reelection. He's fortunate that Wellstone died. The RNC has spent tons of money on Coleman. First to run against Wellstone and not as Governor of the State. Then his reelection. He will try and take this to US Supreme Court and I hope they refuse to hear it. MN has gone long enough without having all our representatives in WA.
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tchef9 months, 1 week ago
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What is wrong with the absentee ballets? Why aren't they counted? I don't understand this in any election. Absentee ballets should be counted with all the other votes at the same time. I'm not rooting for Coleman here, I just want this finished in the most honest and democratic way possible. Count the votes, make the decision and get this done!
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not2needy9 months, 1 week ago
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Coleman is shameless! The likes of Coleman, Bachmann and Palin, not to even mention Bush, Cheney, Newt, and that band of thieves have completely destroyed the GOP! They couldn't have done a better job if they had deliberately planned it!
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