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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Minnesota nice

The NYTimes does a piece on Franken/Coleman.
Norm Coleman spends his days in the quiet living room of his small house here, thumbing through stacks of legal papers. His United States Senate staff and offices vanished at the start of the year, as did his salary, so Mr. Coleman works part-time as a consultant to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

He has learned to ignore the big “Franken” signs on his neighbors’ yards that taunt him when he walks out his door....

Maybe my street is nicer than his, (or I'm nicer than he is,) but I don't think any of my neighbors would jack me like that... every day, for six months..... Not just signs, but big signs.

But then again, I don't have a lawyer doing this.

4 Comments:

  • The ruling is here.
    Having read it, I just shook my head in disbelief at Ginsberg's 'arguments'. Three very experienced judges systematically went through and eviscerated any federal case he may have in this ruling. The State followed State law, so if he expects the MN SC to say otherwise, then he is delusional.

    See especially p. 12, point 72.
    Coleman is screwed because his attorneys pleaded the exact opposite of what they now contend. Coleman's attorneys actually wanted all of these ballots summarily rejected earlier - because they were ahead. Everything in Ginsberg's smug remarks to Halperin
    is contradicted by these previous pleadings.

    As for the "nice" part, all that I can say is things are very polarised. Virtually no one believes the "count every vote" rhetoric. If you voted for Coleman, you just want him seated - we'll figure out some pretext later. The once-smug Barkley voters have concluded that Coleman's "day in court" is over. Franken voters are, of course, furious.

    The one thing that has kept things calm in non-Coleman territory is that everyone hoped that the Board's ruling would be comprehensive enough to make an appeal a quick thumbs-down.

    And it looks like it has.
    What Ginsberg mistakes as the Court "patting itself on the back" is really an airtight legal brief dealing directly with every possible grounds for appeal Coleman could present, both at the State and federal level. These ballots have now been reviewed three times; that is due process. "Due process" does not mean that one party has to like the conclusion.

    "In essence, Contestants ask the Court to ignore the clear requirements of Minnesota's absentee voting laws. The Court declines to adopt the Contestants' argument." (p. 47)

    Open and shut.

    Ginsberg has to work with the evidence already entered, as well, since no new evidence can be introduced in an appeal to the SC.

    By Blogger Todd Dugdale , at 11:47 PM  

  • It seems clearer than ever at this point that Colman (or his Republican controllers) aren't interested in actually winning the legal argument. They're looking to cast as much of a cloud as possible on the "legitimacy" of Senator-elect Franken.

    This is standard operating procedure for the GOP. FUD, FUD, FUD....!

    By Blogger -epm, at 6:06 AM  

  • Todd, I kinda buzzed various excerpts and was dumbfounded as well. Ginsburg's argument appears, to some degree, to be that he is smarter than everyone else, and that the court simply couldn't understand his arguments.

    Or at least that's his tone.

    And, frankly, I'm not really surprised the "nice" has worn out. This thing has been going on so long and so publicly that everyone with skight inclinations has been pushed further and further.

    ....

    EPM, yup. I'll be very curious on what income stream Norm Coleman lands after this is all over. Who's going to take care of him? That'll tell us alot.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 7:27 AM  

  • What a sanctimonious jerk. From the NY Times:

    "[Coleman] said that every morning, he puts tefillin — black leather boxes containing scrolls — on his arm as part of a morning Jewish prayer ritual. “I bind myself every morning,” he said. “I bind myself to God every morning because it’s in his hands.”

    He paused. “David Letterman will make fun of me for this,” he said."
    Yeah. Right.

    Prick.

    By Blogger -epm, at 7:36 AM  

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