State Supreme Court grills lawyers for Coleman, Franken

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | 6/1/9 | PAT DOYLE and KEVIN DUCHSCHERE,

[SmithL]

Republican Norm Coleman called on the Minnesota Supreme Court today to reverse a victory for Democrat Al Franken, and several justices sharply challenged Coleman's argument for counting more ballots.

Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg said thousands of additional absentee ballots should be tallied under looser standards adopted by many local officials on Election Day. He said local customs led to counting ballots in Democratic areas that were similar to those rejected by officials in Republican areas applying a stricter standard.

But several justices said he failed to provide proof that such practices were widespread or affected the outcome.

"You're offering little more than...legal theory of the case, but no concrete evidence to back it up," said Associate Justice Christopher Dietzen.

However, Franken lawyer Marc Elias also came in for tough questioning about how he could be confident about the outcome given that some of the ballots counted on Election Day apparently didn't meet Minnesota law.

"If we're supposed to decide who got the most legally cast votes, and there is evidence that suggests that illegally-cast ballots were accepted...how can we tell who got the most legally cast votes?" asked Associate Justice Lorie Gildea.

Elias responded that Coleman failed to prove how many ballots were illegally cast or their significance.

[Cicero]

How can he prove his case if he’s not allowed to eamine or count the ballots? Or am I missing something?

[dirtboy]

But several justices said he failed to provide proof that such practices were widespread or affected the outcome.

With a couple of hundred votes separating the two, it doesn't have to be all that widespread to affect the outcome. Duh...

[pray4liberty]

If Franken(stein) gets in, I will take that as a sign that God will be judging Washington D.C.

[RetSignman]

Yes, an x.

[freekitty]

We already know Acorn reared its ugly head in this race. I hope the judges are fair and realize that and not judge on purely political agendas.

[Chet 99]

Still don’t know why Coleman hasn’t made the argument that, given the small spread and number of illegal votes, a new election should be called...

[paul544]

Coleman lost this when he allowed the canvasing board to get away with the completely inconsistent methods they used. He should have immediately unloaded with both barrels at that time.

[Michael.SF.]

Elias (Frnken's Lawyer) responded that Coleman failed to prove how many ballots were illegally cast

That is a tacit admission, by a Democrat attorney, that illegal votes were cast!

So, if Franken wins, the bar has been raised. Not only do Republican's have to prove that illegal votes were cast, they are then expected to be able to determine how many illegal votes were cast by democrat operatives.

[freespirited]

I have read that MN law has no provision for calling a new election.

[smokingfrog]

You can’t have a fair election if the same standards are not used statewide for determining whether or not a ballot is accepted or rejected.

[slapshot]

I am not a lawyer but I would think 4-1 Coleman’s lawyer was a joke. If this is the A team for the Republicans forget it. Welcome to AmeriKA

I never thought it would come to this. Time to figure out how to get that Irish passport. Trouble is my wife and kids are SOL in terms of dual citizen options.

What we think as our side continues to put up incompetent boobs against committed marxists. It appears we need to look at the worst case scenario.